Alejandro Jodorowsky (or however he chose to spell his name at any one point of his life) is enjoying a slight renaissance after the belated DVD release of his 'masterpieces' 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain'. One thing for certain is that he produces highly original, unique cinematic experiences full of both high culture and crude exploitation. I would also go so far as to say he has no real understanding of cinema and his films are more experiments by a man who elsewhere has enjoyed success in theatre, mime, music, tarot cards and comic books.
I can appreciate moments of brilliance in both 'El Topo' and 'The Holy Mountain', although ultimately they are self-indulgent, incomprehensible and perhaps a little pretentious. With 'Santa Sangre', however, Jodorowsky opted for fairly striaghtforward shock-horror, albeit with many fairly bizarre components. As with all his films, we join the action with the feeling that we've already missed something. Thrown into the midst of a confusing narrative we spend the early moments trying to find our feet - in this case in a circus, where the heroes father is the main act and his mother is for some reason the leader of a religious cult whose headquarters have just been destroyed. At this point, the hero, Fenix, is portrayed by Adan Jodorowsky, the director's son, whilst the grown-up Fenix is played by Axel, an older son, both looking extremely like Alejandro himself!
Essentially the film becomes about showcasing Axel excellent mime abilities, when he becomes his mother's arms (after they were cut off by his angry father), seemingly possessing him and causing him to kill women. Unfortunately, it's at this point that the film just becomes stupid, without the deeper, more optimistic message contained within the earlier films. To a certain extent, this could be seen as Jodorowsky's commercial film, although one he was able to fully express himself with. I certainly think he's worth looking at but avoid this one, and take the others with a pinch of salt.
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