The Holy Mountain

Film poster

The Holy Mountain is a 1973 movie by Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. Despite lackluster box office returns upon release, the film is now regarded as a long-lost cult classic that was revolutionary in its blend of surrealist imagery, creative cinematography, esoteric mysticism, unorthodox philosophy and social commentary. Plot wise, the film is structured into three informal acts: the first follows "the Thief" as he wanders aimlessly through a surreal and confusing society, the second follows an alchemist as he seeks to assemble a group of the most powerful people, and the third act sees the alchemist's cult seek out the titular holy mountain in a quest for immortality and enlightenment. 

Plot structure aside, the film comments on a very wide area of themes in society and religion, so this will narrow in on some more specific elements that are more relevant to ideological and sociological analysis. For example, one interesting part of the film is its commentary on contemporary capitalism and its method of production and reproduction of objects. 

One example of this is a scene in which the character of the Thief is tricked into drinking tequila until he blacks out so a shopkeeper can use his body as a mold for life-sized statues of Christ. This sounds like an extremely bizarre scene in a movie (it is), but it serves to underscore the universality of commodification under contemporary, industrial capitalism. Literally nothing is sacred, instead everything is reduced to an endlessly replicated and duplicated product. These images of Christ become, as Baudrillard put it, mere simulacra: images disjointed and removed from their original sources. Adrift without his own identity, the Thief wanders throughout a society of images and spectacles, but in doing so, is taken and repurposed for the further reproduction of this spectacle. 

This theme of replication and repetition is continued as the Alchemist tries to gather a group of the world's "greatest thieves." Many of these men and women exist to subvert the "authentic" experiences of reality and human social life in order to profit and control the masses. The ideological function of these scenes is twofold. On one hand, it sets up society as a layering and hierarchy of ideologies where, on one hand, the upper echelon of society constructs the ideological groupings for the lower classes, while simultaneously they are operating under their own ideological praxis. As the quest for enlightenment continues, the group breaks through certain ideological layers while only coming to realize that ideologies continue to structure their existence. Although they are led by the Alchemist and look to him for guidance, the Thief eventually realizes to accept some basic ideological aspects. Without ideology, there are only two options: the constant, futile search for an absolute truth or a regressing into nihilistic hedonism, embodied in the pantheon bar, a place of fakes and frauds that failed to climb the holy mountain. 

On the other hand, the group also posits ideology as a fundamentally human process, especially as being something that is wholly mediated as a social relation. Purging ideological "demons" through physical discipline and meditation, the group is therefore fundamentally rebelling against the society that they created. As the most powerful people in society, they are reaping what they have sown. They have created an immaterial world by their own over-materialism and have alienated themselves from the entire productive process by creating imitations instead of authentic productions. 

Interestingly, the solution taken is not the typically ideological one; instead of switching to a better product to produce, they reject the framing entirely, choosing to instead lead a hermetic existence in a quest for immortality.