The Holy Mountain

	On 2025-01-17, I watched "The Holy Mountain" by Alejandro
	Jodorowsky. Some comments.

The cripple

	The Thief, a white man, befriends a crippled indio dwarf.
	Perhaps an allusion to the crippling effect of colonialism.

The toads

	Toads and chameleons reenact the conquest of Mexico. When the
	Christian settlers arrive, a German march plays: "Eins, zwei,
	drei, vier, fünf." Probably an allusion to Germany's role in the
	World Wars. And it is only numbers: in militarism, the purpose
	is secondary; the main goal is to keep going. Compare with René
	Girard's mimetic theory and the constant war in Orwell's 1984.

The dice

	Roman soldiers play with dice on a piece of cloth. Probably an
	allusion to the Gospel scene where Roman soldiers gamble for
	Jesus's clothes.

The Pietà

	The Nun holds the Thief in a pose like the Pietà.

The prostitute

	A prostitute follows the Thief around with a monkey. Probably an
	allusion to Mary of Magdala. Perhaps also an allusion to Ishtar
	and Enkidu, or the banal and carnal origin of man, both
	individually (sexually) and collectively (evolutionarily).

The wax

	The Thief eats the face of the wax crucifix made in his image.
	Probably an allusion to Jesus's saying that people must truly
	gnaw on his flesh.

The camel

	When the Thief meets the Alchemist, a camel is in the room.
	Perhaps an allusion to Jesus's saying that it is easier for a
	camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
	enter heaven. The Alchemist's room is behind a hole in a tall,
	narrow tower: the eye of a needle. Now that a camel is there,
	the impossible has become possible: the heavens have opened
	their gates to those who hunt for gold. The first thing the
	Alchemist asks the Thief is: "Do you want gold?"

The planets

	The seven companions are contradictory in themselves, and they
	contradict each other in pairs.

	Mars (the god of war and men) is a warring woman; Venus (the
	goddess of beauty and women) is a man concerned with beauty.

	Jupiter (the sky father), a middle-aged man with sideburns,
	perverts the seriousness of a father figure into playfulness and
	hypersexuality; Saturn (the god of seeds who devours his
	children) perverts the innocence of children's toys into
	deception, hate, and war.

	Uranus (the castrated origin of the male element) is the only
	one in a stable relationship with a woman, but is effeminate and
	feels powerless and frustrated; Neptune is a eunuch, but boasts
	with muscles, weapons, and hypermasculinity.

	Pluto (the god of the underworld and money) is left over. His
	domain concerns all: he buries people in dense banlieues to
	squeeze more money out of them.

	The seven companions differ from the seven classical planets.
	Uranus and Neptune replace the (equally contradictory) Sun and
	Moon. Pluto replaces the (equally "leftover") messenger Mercury.

The bowl

	A guide asks the ten how many they are, and they reply "nine"
	because they do not count themselves. When they look into a bowl
	of water, they say: "Here is the missing one, he drowned", and
	bury the bowl. Probably an allusion to their loss of self.
	Perhaps also an allusion to Narcissus.

The bread

	The Alchemist asks the Thief: "Do you want to perform miracles
	like Christ? See what would happen if you did", and shows him a
	vision. The bread multiplies excessively; children fight over it
	and throw it into the water. Probably an allusion to the
	multiplication of the loaves and fish. Even in industrial
	abundance, we fight over goods as if they were scarce, and throw
	them away to artificially decrease supply and keep prices up.

The bar

	At the Pantheon Bar, the poet, the dealer, and the strongman
	represent escapism into the mind, the psyche, and the body. The
	poet deals in similes and is surprised when they come true. The
	dealer reduces all spiritual experience to chemical reactions.
	The strongman can move through walls horizontally, but he cannot
	move vertically. He can achieve things, but he only moves around
	matter; he cannot elevate the spirit.

	In the end, the alpine host evokes the fear of an unaccomplished
	life: "You could have made history, and we are already
	forgetting you."