Movies: Jodorowsky

I'm really not sure what to make of El Topo. It's tempting to dismiss Jodorowsky's film as nonsense. There's some outright bullshit in the film, particularly the overt allegory in the second half (the ubiquotous dollar-bill-illuminati symbol pasted over the crucifix, El Topo setting himself on fire like a tibetan monk) though in it's twists and turns the movie achieves some kind of vague understanding that transcendence and fulfillment are only achieved through repeated failure and violent struggle. If you pair it down to a statement like that - and maybe it's the inbred American sense of pragmatism - it's actually effective. Of course the real problem is that I have trouble finding the time to really delve into a film like this unless I'm convinced it's worth my while. Maybe later.