El Topo (film)
El Topo (directed by Alejandro
Jodorowsky)/1970
Watching
El Topo is like reading an obscure religious parable. Every moment attempts to
point to the worldview that its author is trying to portray. Moreover, like an Old
Testament parable or a Zen Koan, the meaning is not given to an individual for
ready consumption. The viewer must work to get something out of it. One might
not agree with the message being presented in the symbolism, but to interact
with this movie is try to interpret the symbolism and then either take the
message or disregard it.
Alejandro Jodorowsky in this movie presents what he takes to be the human road to truth and the reality of what finding truth entails. The main character, a mysterious gunslinger called El Topo (the Mole), is the quest for truth incarnate. The movie follows El Topo’s search for truth and the various ideas that battle within one’s mind when one tries to determine the meaning of life.
Each phase of El Topo’s journey represents a seeker’s confrontation with a worldview and how the stages fit in with the various phases of human life. At first El Topo is with a young boy; he tells the child to bury his childhood toys and pictures of family in the sand. Childhood dies coinciding with the beginning of the quest for truth. From here El Topo moves through various philosophies and companions. El Topo literally fights those representing different world views. This displays the intensity and violence with which ideas battle out in the mind of the seeker, and the fact that untruths will not survive this intellectual conflict.
The first battle of the mind that takes place is with egotism. We find a town of individuals that literally make love to the earth, but their relationship is that of desire rather than worship. The town is dominated by power and fear, and human beings are exclaimed to have no souls and for this reason are treated and spoken of as dogs. Women are play things that are used solely for sexual pleasure. All are under the whim of a military tyrant. El Topo overcomes this stage due to the internal tensions within this worldview. Tyranny has very fragile support and once weakness is exposed those who were previously under the thumb are more than happy to cast aside their previous master.
The protagonist continues to advance through various phases. But, the search is done out of a desire to be loved. It is not a true search. Moreover, due to being done for the sake of wordly goods, once enlightenment is achieved it gives nothing to El Topo as he did not actually want to see the truth at this point. We see here what Jodorowsky means in the opening sequence when he states that El Topo is a mole that burrows out of the earth to see the sun, only to be blinded by the light.
I will not outline what I take to be all the stages that the protagonist advances through, except to say that they contain elements of different philosophies ranging from Buddhism to rationalism. For me to state categorically what each stage is would involve distorting your viewing of the movie, in the same way it would if I clearly outlined the end of a thriller. To engage with this movie is to think about what each stage means. To engage fully, is to view one’s own life within the framework of El Topo’s search.
Somewhere shortly after the halfway point of the movie El Topo is fully broken by the reality that his search has been performed out of egotism. The full realisation of this rips him apart, and through this pain he is reborn. From this point his egoism is gone as El Topo lives solely for the sake of others. Yet, what this movie eventually demonstrates is that even if the individual has seen the truth of herself, the world is indifferent and enlightenment might not entail any kind of worldly benefit. The final scenes could be interpreted in different ways: as either a statement that the way to enlightenment is through self-denial which may not lead to worldly goods, or that any quest for enlightenment is futile in a world without meaning.
Is El Topo worth watching? Undoubtedly it requires work. It is akin to reading very abstract philosophy or mystical texts. If that is what one is interested in, then it is fascinating viewing. Without being willing to work hard, I do not think El Topo would be of much value. The surface level story is bizarre and at times disturbing. At times it is aesthetically interesting, but the sensory pleasure would not be enough to hold a viewer that does not want to engage with this movie on an intellectual level.
Watching
El Topo is like reading an obscure religious parable. Every moment attempts to
point to the worldview that its author is trying to portray. Moreover, like an Old
Testament parable or a Zen Koan, the meaning is not given to an individual for
ready consumption. The viewer must work to get something out of it. One might
not agree with the message being presented in the symbolism, but to interact
with this movie is try to interpret the symbolism and then either take the
message or disregard it.Alejandro Jodorowsky in this movie presents what he takes to be the human road to truth and the reality of what finding truth entails. The main character, a mysterious gunslinger called El Topo (the Mole), is the quest for truth incarnate. The movie follows El Topo’s search for truth and the various ideas that battle within one’s mind when one tries to determine the meaning of life.
Each phase of El Topo’s journey represents a seeker’s confrontation with a worldview and how the stages fit in with the various phases of human life. At first El Topo is with a young boy; he tells the child to bury his childhood toys and pictures of family in the sand. Childhood dies coinciding with the beginning of the quest for truth. From here El Topo moves through various philosophies and companions. El Topo literally fights those representing different world views. This displays the intensity and violence with which ideas battle out in the mind of the seeker, and the fact that untruths will not survive this intellectual conflict.
The first battle of the mind that takes place is with egotism. We find a town of individuals that literally make love to the earth, but their relationship is that of desire rather than worship. The town is dominated by power and fear, and human beings are exclaimed to have no souls and for this reason are treated and spoken of as dogs. Women are play things that are used solely for sexual pleasure. All are under the whim of a military tyrant. El Topo overcomes this stage due to the internal tensions within this worldview. Tyranny has very fragile support and once weakness is exposed those who were previously under the thumb are more than happy to cast aside their previous master.
The protagonist continues to advance through various phases. But, the search is done out of a desire to be loved. It is not a true search. Moreover, due to being done for the sake of wordly goods, once enlightenment is achieved it gives nothing to El Topo as he did not actually want to see the truth at this point. We see here what Jodorowsky means in the opening sequence when he states that El Topo is a mole that burrows out of the earth to see the sun, only to be blinded by the light.
I will not outline what I take to be all the stages that the protagonist advances through, except to say that they contain elements of different philosophies ranging from Buddhism to rationalism. For me to state categorically what each stage is would involve distorting your viewing of the movie, in the same way it would if I clearly outlined the end of a thriller. To engage with this movie is to think about what each stage means. To engage fully, is to view one’s own life within the framework of El Topo’s search.
Somewhere shortly after the halfway point of the movie El Topo is fully broken by the reality that his search has been performed out of egotism. The full realisation of this rips him apart, and through this pain he is reborn. From this point his egoism is gone as El Topo lives solely for the sake of others. Yet, what this movie eventually demonstrates is that even if the individual has seen the truth of herself, the world is indifferent and enlightenment might not entail any kind of worldly benefit. The final scenes could be interpreted in different ways: as either a statement that the way to enlightenment is through self-denial which may not lead to worldly goods, or that any quest for enlightenment is futile in a world without meaning.
Is El Topo worth watching? Undoubtedly it requires work. It is akin to reading very abstract philosophy or mystical texts. If that is what one is interested in, then it is fascinating viewing. Without being willing to work hard, I do not think El Topo would be of much value. The surface level story is bizarre and at times disturbing. At times it is aesthetically interesting, but the sensory pleasure would not be enough to hold a viewer that does not want to engage with this movie on an intellectual level.
