The Holy Mountain

1973, Mexico, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 114 min.

Introduced by author Daniel Pinchbeck

Produced by Beatles manager Allen Klein, The Holy Mountain revels in the grotesque, surreal, symbolic, and hallucinatory. The protagonist, a thief (Horacio Salinas) who appears like a modern-day incarnation of Christ, is nearly crucified by naked boys with green-painted genitalia. He is rescued by a limbless dwarf and then chews on a wax representation of himself before sending it to the heavens on colorful balloons—and that’s just the beginning! Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain functions like a wondrous time machine, transporting viewers back to a day when movies and audiences were up for anything.

Daniel Pinchbeck is the bestselling author of Breaking Open the Head and 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl. His new book How Soon Is Now? comes out in February from Watkins Press. His articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Rolling Stone, Wired, ArtForum, and other publications. He co-founded the company Evolver.net, which publishes the web magazine Reality Sandwich. He is featured in the 2010 documentary 2012: Time for Change (Mangusta Films) and hosted the talk show Mindshift for GaiamTV.

“Neither for the faint of heart or the linear of thinker, The Holy Mountain qualifies both as a fascinating period relic and an enduringly transfixing jaw-dropper.” —Geoff Pevere

“Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain is a dazzling, rambling, often incoherent satire on consumerism, militarism, and exploitation.” —Matt Zoller Seitz