Alejandro Jodorowsky's follow up to his cult hit El Topo is a strange and surreal journey through the world of mysticism and the occult that forgoes the black leather clad Spaghetti Western styling of it's predecessor and instead focuses on the magical and spiritual aspects of various world theologies.

A thief bearing no small resemblance to Jesus Christ finds himself wandering through a strange world of religious imagery and strange arcane rituals. He eventually climbs a massive red tower (and in turn reaches a different spiritual plane) by using some large balloons and is taken in by 'The Alchemist', a mystical figurehead who, after proving himself by turning the thief's fecal matter into gold, introduces him to six powerful strangers of varied occupations (and based on the Tarot), each seeking enlightenment.

Each one of these individuals, naked and shaved, represents a different planet in the solar system. Teaming up with the thief and the Alchemist along with his assistant, they strip themselves of their possessions, burn all their money, and try to remove any form of self from their souls. Together they form a group who attempt to climb the Holy Mountain where they expect to overthrow the immortals that reside there and find true spiritual enlightenment.

Filled with its fair share of shocking imagery and sadistic violence, The Holy Mountain is a totally unique film filled with gorgeous compositions and amazing set pieces. The infamous reenactment of the Mexican revolution using frogs (as Spanish conquistadors) and lizards (as Aztecs) is humorous and disturbing at the same time, and in a sense it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. The thief, who is obviously a metaphor for Christ (when we meet him he is coming down off of a cross) and who is compared to him on more than one occasion not the least of which is when he drives the money lenders from the temple, represents all of us and mankind's need to find God in whatever form we may deem fit. Jodorowsky has said that with this film he hoped to make a sacred piece of cinema and so he uses symbolism from various different religions to build his own take on theological enlightenment.

Once again, Jodorowsky has cast himself in the lead and surrounded himself with primarily unknown performers. His theory on this is that having a star in your film is a waste of money that should be spent on production values rather than on arrogant talent and in many ways his theory is quite astute. Here he has made an absolutely beautiful film that is at times very down to Earth and at other times very alien in appearance. There's obviously been a lot of care put into each shot as well as into the set decorations and into the costumes and it pays off as the film is gorgeous to look at even if at times it's a little hard to decipher without an innate knowledge of world religions and the occult.

Leaving itself wide open for individual interpretation while at the same time having a fairly straightforward narrative, The Holy Mountain is a film just waiting to be explained, likely in a different manner by each person who sees it.

Video:

The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer for The Holy Mountain is sharp and colorful and quite a noticeable improvement over the standard definition DVD release. Like the El Topo Blu-ray, there is evidence of some noise reduction having been applied and if you're one of those viewers who is susceptible to that, you'll notice it, but it's not a particularly overzealous application. Texture looks very strong, you'll really notice it not just in the costumes but in the various props and bizarre sets used throughout the film - a perfect example being the shot with the Christ mannequins, you almost feel the dirt. Black levels are very good and there are no problems with compression artifacts worth noting. The image is a bit cleaner than you might expect, and there are no issues with heavy print damage or anything like that. The improvement in detail offered by the higher resolution really makes it easier than ever to appreciate just how amazing the cinematography and attention to detail is in this picture. Jodo-heads should be pretty happy with the results - if it's not on par with the latest blockbuster, did anyone really expect it to be?

Audio options are offered up in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and PCM 2.0 Stereo, both tracks sounding full and well rounded. Dialogue is clean and clear and there are no problems with hiss or distortion to complain about. The 5.1 track basically just spreads the score around, with most of the dialogue staying front and center as it should be and only some occasional ambient effects coming from the rear. It's not an overly aggressive mix, but nor should it be. There's definitely more depth and range here when compared to the previous DVD release. Optional subtitles are offered in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.