MYST: The Holy Mountain

Experimental films are great, right?

Alexander Jodorowsky, the director of this film, is a crazy person. That's really the only way to explain how anyone wrote directed and published this film because, this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I'm almost 100% certain this is the most insane film ever created, and I honestly mean that. Despite all the craziness of this film many people consider it to be a great film. After discussing some experimental films in class, I decided to get a better grasp on the genre I should watch what I have heard to be the greatest experimental film of all time.

The movie follows a Christ like character who is woken up by a man with no arms or legs. He is put up on a cross and stoned by a group of children. From here he and the crippled man walk through the city and observe all the horrible things going on in the city. Protesters are being slaughtered in the streets by men in gas masks while rich tourists follow and take pictures and pose with the corpses. Birds and other animals fly out of the open wounds of the dead protesters. After a bunch of other strange things happen the main character ascends the tower in the middle of town to meet the alchemist, the strange religious figure shown above. He tries to fight the Alchemist but fails and the alchemist makes him his apprentice. 

This movie has some really awesome cinematography

After going through initiation rituals the Alchemist tells the main character that he is planning to assemble the 9 most powerful people in the solar system, one from each planet, to ascend the holy mountain and over throw the 9 immortal gods who control the universe. 

As strange as this movie is, it's actually a pretty good film. It has easily has some of the best cinematography I've ever seen in a film. The set designs and use of color is fantastic and depth of field are amazing. This movie also has a lot of interesting messages about things such as, consumerism, the treatment of violence and war in the media, and the exploitation of third world cultures by the developed nations. Almost everything in the film has some kind of symbolism behind it, and it makes it a very engaging movie to watch.

 That being said I STRONGLY recommend you don't see this unless you're in the mood to watch 2 hours of the most confusing absurd things you've ever seen. Although many of the absurd things in the movie seem to make more sense if you analyze them and look for the meaning behind them. However, some of the scenes are just so absolutely ridiculous that I can't possible find any meaning to them. I almost turned this movie off about 5 or 6 times while watching because some scenes are so strange. Also, if you're offended easily most likely you won't even make it through the first 10 minutes of  this film. The movie says a lot of VERY controversial things about plenty of topics one big one being religion and particularly Christianity.

Overall I give this movie a 7out of 8. I think this movie has a lot of very important messages that most films are unwilling to dare take on. By being so ridiculous Jodorowsky is able to personify certain problems he has with society in order to get his point across. However, as much as it's absurdness is a lot of what makes this film so great, it's also the major downfall. This movie is just too insane for it's own good. Although some of the really crazy scenes are actually interesting if you analyze the meaning behind them, some are just dumb and so ridiculous it takes away from the things that make this film great.