This mystical, satirical Western is like if Buñuel, Fellini and Mel Brooks made THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY for the arthouse and grindhouse, simultaneously. Every now and than you see a film so original that it's more than just something that you've never seen before, it's something that changes the way you think about film. This is one of those rare films. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a master filmmaker, who is like many of the great modern filmmakers, combining elements of cinema that have come before in a way that it makes something revolutionarily new and refreshing. This is post-modern cinema at its best, strangest and most spiritual.
El Topo (Jodorowsky) is a black clad rider, who tells his six-year-old naked son that the boy is now a man and he should symbolically burry his first toy and a picture of his mother in the desert. They ride into a town where the people have been slaughtered by outlaws. While avenging the deaths, he meets a woman he names Mara (Mara Lorenzio), who will urge him to make morally questionable decisions, which lead to his redemption in an underground community of deformed people where he meets a little woman (Jacqueline Luis), who changes his life.
Other key characters include the brutal and primped out Colonel (David Silva, HOLY MOUNTAIN); the mysterious woman in black (Paula Romo) that joins El Topo and Mara, when they go out to challenge the four master gunmen (Hector Martinez, Juan Jose Gurrola, Victor Fosado, Agustin Isunza); the gay sheriff (Jose Antonio Alcaraz) and his deputy (Felipe Diaz Garza); and a monk (Robert John), who has a grudge against El Topo.
El Topo means the mole, which is referred to in a key opening poem. He is a cold-hearted killer, but as the bodies pile up in his wake, he wonders if there is more than being the best gunslinger in the world. This story of redemption is a common theme in Westerns, but this film takes it to a higher level both intellectually and spiritually. Jodorowsky plays off of Western conventions, pushing them to extremes in terms of violence and the metaphoric nature of how conventions are presented. From time to time, the film reaches a magical realism realm that adds poetry, experiment and shock. As for the humor, it mixes ingenious and strange gags with dark satire. Narratively, each act has its own individual arch, which would be the whole plot in a less ambitious film.
EL TOPO can switch from hilarious gags to experimental metaphors to bloody violence from scene to scene. Sometimes they share the same scene. This isn't a religious film, but all major religions are referenced. The conclusion finds a spiritual resolution that challenges our own way we treat each other. It's a profound and tragic end. Jodorowsky pushes the boundaries of the genre he chose to frame his story in and in the process pushes the boundaries of the artform. This film started the midnight movie craze. This odd masterpiece has magnificent single moments, a complicated and compelling overall narrative and captures the audience's attention with deep thought, making a provocative statement about life and the ways of the world.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
