I love Alejandro Jodorowsky. And this is the film that started that love, thanks to a friend in college (you know who you are, if you even read my blog.) I also think it's still Jodorowsky's most accessible film, if not his flat-out best (although I haven't seen TUSK or THE RAINBOW THIEF, which I hear are less Jodorowsky-esque.)
This is definitely Jodorowsky-esque. Stunning visuals, hallucinations, abusive father, manipulative mother, a strange religious cult, dwarfs, a dead elephant, a deaf-mute beauty who saves the day...
Jodorowsky has said he uses his films for the same purposes as Americans use recreational drugs. And that's on full display here.
But it's also got a story, with structure and character and a plot arc and a goal at the end that is beautiful. You can watch it as a good story, well told, with a lot of weirdness around it. As opposed to a lot of weirdness with a thread of a story holding it together, like most of Jodorowsky's work.
Anyway, stop reading this. In fact, forget you ever read any of this, and instead just go find a copy of SANTA SANGRE and watch it. And maybe you'll also get kind of hooked on Jodorowsky.
Running Time: 123 minutes
My Total Minutes: 427,795
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