Alejandro Jodorowsky / Don Cherry / Ronald Frangipane – The Holy Mountain (1973)

Composers: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Don Cherry, Ronald Frangipane

Tracklist

1. Trance Mutation 03:31
2. Pissed And Passed Out 01:48
3. Violence Of The Lambs 02:02
4. Drink It 01:37
5. Christs 4 Sale 00:43
6. Cast Out And Pissed 01:47
7. Eye Of The Beholder 02:17
8. Communion 01:23
9. Rainbow Room 04:40
10. Alchemical Room 04:14
11. Tarot Will Teach You / Burn Your Money 08:44
12. Mattresses, Masks & Pearls 05:53
13. Isla (The Sapphic Sleep) 02:21
14. Psychedelic Weapons 01:11
15. Rich Man In A Fishbowl 04:09
16. Miniature Plastic Bomb Shop 03:14
17. Fuck Machine 03:12
18. Baby Snakes 01:20
19. A Walk In The Park 01:31
20. Mice And Massacre 03:27
21. City Of Freedom 03:21
22. Starfish 02:21
23. The Climb / Reality (Zoom Back Camera) 04:14
24. Pantheon Bar (Bees Make Honey...) 03:45

The Holy Mountain (Spanish: La Montaña Sagrada) is a 1973 Mexican surreal-fantasy film

directed, written, produced, co-scored, co-edited by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky,

who also participated as a set designer and costume designer on the film.

Following Jodorowsky's underground hit El Topo, acclaimed by both John Lennon and George Harrison,

the film was produced by The Beatles manager Allen Klein of ABKCO Music And Records.

Lennon and Yoko Ono put up production money and the film was shown at various international film festivals in 1973,

including Cannes and limited screenings in New York and San Francisco.
The film is based on Ascent Of Mount Carmel by John Of The Cross 

and Mount Analogue by René Daumal, who was a student of George Gurdjieff.

In this film, much of Jodorowsky's visually psychedelic story follows the metaphysical thrust of Mount Analogue.

This is revealed in such events as the climb to the alchemist, the assembly of individuals with specific skills,

the discovery of the mountain that unites Heaven and Earth "that cannot not exist"

and symbolic challenges along the mountain ascent.

Daumal died before finishing his allegorical novel, and Jodorowsky's improvised ending

provides a way of completing the work (both symbolically and otherwise).
Before the principal photography would commence,

Jodorowsky and his wife spent a week without sleep under the direction of a Japanese Zen master.
Members of the cast spent three months doing various spiritual exercises guided by Oscar Ichazo of the Arica Institute.

The Arica training features Zen, Sufi and yoga exercises along with eclectic concepts drawn from the Kabbalah,

the I Ching and the teachings of George Gurdjieff.

After the training, the group lived for one month communally in Jodorowsky's home before production. 

Thereafter, the filming started in early 1972 and was shot sequentially, entirely in Mexico, at a budget of $750,000.
Jodorowsky was also instructed by Ichazo to take LSD for the purpose of spiritual exploration.

He also administered psilocybin mushrooms to the actors during the shooting of the death-rebirth scene.

The film was completed just in time for the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, where it was much awaited.

Jodorowsky edited out twenty minutes of dialogue, with the intention of removing as much dialogue as he could.

The film had its premiere at Waverly Theatre, an art house movie theater in New York City on 29 November 1973,

where it had restricted run at midnights on Friday and Saturday for sixteen months.
It was also shown at Filmex on 30 March 1974, which was described as the "American premiere".
At a few places it was released as a double bill with Jodorowsky's 1970 film El Topo

 and eventually became a cult film with its influence on popular culture.

Memory