Defining Favourites: El Topo (1970)

Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult spaghetti western of sorts is beguiling and maddening in equal measure.

Photo: ABKCO Films

Welcome to my Defining Favourites, a section dedicated to essays about films that I feel confident in calling favourites in some way or another - akin to Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies” reviews. These essays are for paid subscribers, so if you would like to read more beyond the free preview, please consider subscribing.

Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Screenplay by Alejandro Jodorowsky
Produced by Juan López Moctezuma, Moshe Rosemberg, Roberto Viskin
Starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, David Silva, Paula Romo, Jacqueline Luis, Alfonso Arau
Premiere Date: December 18, 1970
Running Time: 124 minutes

Whenever I watch Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, I can’t help but find myself completely in shock that something like this even exists in this form. And yet, I think it’s the perfect encapsulation of what has allowed Alejandro Jodorowsky to remain so singular as an artist all through the years, because El Topo is shocking, baffling, confounding, maddening all in equal measure – perhaps making the fact that Jodorowsky had taken upon most of the major creative tasks to himself all the more admirable. It’s all the more admirable because it results in something that’s so repulsive, beautiful, and alluring, but in all these provocations we’re witnessing it also makes clear a case of spiritual enlightenment, as Jodorowsky himself would have described such a film.

From the very first image of El Topo alone, we’re already treated to the start of a bigger journey that simply begins with the titular El Topo riding on horseback together with his young son Hijo. At seven years old, he declares that Hijo is no longer a little boy, but a man – so as a sign of his coming-of-age, he must bury his first toy alongside a picture of his mother. It’s an image that perfectly encapsulates how Jodorowsky believes he’s found his own enlightenment, as he witnesses so much happening around him while he’s so young. For Jodorowsky, it can go many places as this journey might start at seven years old like it does for the young Hijo, but it all comes forth in service of breaking apart our perceptions of those whom we perceive to be the western hero, as they exist within a specific void needing to be filled as violence continues following them wherever one goes.