El Topo - 3 stars out of 5 stars

This Mexican film was released in 1970 and runs 125 minutes.It's a very hard film to review because of the overt symbolism involved.It's violence and use of deformed actors also is hard to stomach at times,still it's a landmark film in that it was the very first film to usher in the midnight showing phenomena that became the  hallmark of cult film frenzy  for years to come.Adding to its storied past is the fact that Yoko and John Lennon were so taken by the film that they bought the rights to it and for years it was off the market and available only to their friends.Trailer URL below the pix and a" face value "film summary from IMDB below.I had to take 2 stars off for the really extreme imagery used yet still recommend you see it,but not on a full stomach.


El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. El Topo (the mole) claims to be God, while dressed as a gunfighter in black, riding a horse through a spiritual, mystical landscape strewn with old Western movie, and ancient Eastern religious symbols. Bandits slaughtered a village on his path, so El Topo avenges the massacred, then forcibly takes their leader's woman Mara as his. El Topo's surreal way is bloody, sexual and self-reflective, musing of his own demons, as he tries to vanquish those he encounters. Written by David Stevens 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceHH3QGXvNw