Nothing bothers me more than when a film sacrifices entertainment for symbolism and themes. I hate when the director thinks what he has to say is more important than the entertainment of his film, which at the end of the day is what a film has to be. However The Holy Mountain gets a pass on this. It is a film that works it’s symbolism and imagery into the plot better than any film I have ever seen. The main character in the film serves to tell the other charters, and essentially us what the symbolism is. However he does not tell us how to interpret it. The director leaves that to us, to interpret and decipher his explicitly placed imagery.
The film centers around 10 characters the alchemist, the one who explains the imagery, his assistant, a Christ like figure, and seven other people from seven other planets. All who journey together to the holy mountain in a quest for immortality. It’s a film whose messages are prevalent but not obvious, a film that some may find disgusting, pretentious and a waste of time, but I think is an invitation to be the 11th member of this journey. This is a journey that we as an audience are supposed to take with these people, and to walk out of this film knowing more about ourselves, and the people around us. Or maybe everything I’m saying is wrong and you hate it your first watch and never want to see it again. Either way I highly recommend you watch this film. Thanks for reading and make sure to come back next week for another installation of Jackson’s obscure film of the week.

Next week we’ll discuss arguably the best film of 2013, Short Term 12.
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