Rating: 
Review
With deep religious undertones, and wild performances of sacrilege, The Holy Mountain is a metaphor for religious insurrection as much as a take on why religion sucks ass. There are many direct and indirect allusions to religious events thrown all about the film, and though it really doesn’t come together into something that makes all that much sense, it does sort of make you think- instead of thinking about what app you will download to your phone, thoghts willa rise such as “does the animal i sacrified have a bearing on how many virgins i will get ” or “would being possessed by kind of cool?”
Reason to Watch
You don’t really learn anything and the plot is a series of disjointed scenarios and frames, wrapped in a casing of science-fiction and awkward melodrama. Sounds like a cult film to me.
Context
The Holy Mountain really tells a bizarre story about combining the world of heaven with the realities of earth, and how the task is insurmountable and kind of daunting. It also has a lot of dead animals and religious subtext, so there is a whole lot of something here, not executed all that well.
Most Memorable Quote(s)
- The Alchemist: You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold.
- Surrender yourself to the Earth. Return what was loaned to you. Give up your pleasure, your pain, your friends, your lovers, your life, your past, what you desire. You will know nothingness, it is the only reality.
What You Need to Get Through This Movie
A copy of The Bible, the Quaran, Islamic texts and an mp3 of System of a Down’s hit song, Holy Mountains.
Trivia
The crucified animal carcasses were borrowed from a local restaurant, which were then served to customers upon being returned.
The “tumor” that the priests pull out of the back of the Thief’s neck was an octopus the filmmakers purchased at a local market.
The crew didn’t obtain any permits for the shot of the helicopter setting down in the street, merely had an actor in a police uniform shop traffic while they filmed, then proceeded to run off after the shot was complete.
Educational Content
When dogs fight, people cry
Chanting is religious, but may have consequences, such as bleeding out the eyes or eternal damnation
Justification for Rating
it is hard to determine if The Holy Mountain is a good weird, a bad weird, or an absurdly awesome weird. The rating is irrelevanet here, because The Holy Mountain is every type of weird at any moment in the film
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