I have no idea how to properly convey how important this movie is to me.

Directed, written, produced, co-scored, co-edited, set designed, costumed and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, this is a film that reduces me to tears at times if I even think about it.

Words will fail to explain what this means. This is an absolute movie, one that can only be explained by those that have experienced it, meditated on it and have been changed by it.

The story comes from Ascent of Mount Carmel by John of the Cross and Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal, an unfinished book that is nearly all allegory. The end - which is not an end but a beginning - is what Jodorowsky felt was the proper way to finish the story.

I find it hard to watch all of this film in one sitting, as the bursts of images unlock such deep emotions within me that I can only fully explain months after the watch is over.

Last year, I went through a professional divorce. In an attempt at trying to mend fences and rebuild the relationship, I gave away my blu ray of this film. It was, quite honestly, my most prized possession. It was an attempt to divest myself of material objects and destroy my ego, to lay myself bare and show that I was ready to continue the journey that we had started together. "I want you to have this," I barely choked out. "This is my heart."

I don't know if my former co-founder ever watched this film. The fact that it never came up again told me what I needed to know. I've grown past this pain, which nearly ruined my love of film.

Instead, I have decided to move on, to take my own journey. The loss of this film was just the loss of a blu ray. Its lessons have not disappeared, the power that it has over me has not grown dim. If anything, I have reflected on my own path up and down the mountain and found that I have not regretted a step.

Please find this movie for yourself.

How open minded are you? And I don't mean the very likely fact that animals again had to die for the making of this. With El Topo I heard it from the man himself, for this I can only assume, but I'd say it looks quite like it ... on the other hand, he had way more money to make this than he had with El Topo so maybe ... there are special effects. Whatever the case and your feelings about this, the movie is like ... an "experience". A journey, that you embark on - hopefully willingly.

It is tough to rate a movie like this ... depending on how much you want to dive into the spiritual world. Tarot reading, religion (mostly christianity and or christian symbolism) and other things "out of this world". There is much to discover if you are open to it. There are many people who cherish what Jodorowsky did ... his vision but also his personality. Again he casts himself in this movie - though he has more people in it than before - bigger budget and all that.

Of course most of the people involved were not actors - and his curiousity about people with disabilities shines through too. There is much to be said here, but as much love as this gets, as many other people are likely annoyed by it - this is not a mainstream movie by any stretch of the imagination. Wonderful set pieces and an "experience" watching might give you more than others ... mystical, mythical and mountain(y)

"The Holy Mountain" is an unusual tale, deep in philosophical symbolism and imagery. On the surface, it tells the tale of a thief who enters the tower of an alchemist and is taught that he can turn his worthless life into one more meaningful. But then we get the symbolism: religious imagery, Tarot-inspired imagery and other oddities.

There is a scene early on where the lead character, the thief, is thought to look like Jesus. His unconscious body was used by local merchants (including a cross-dressing nun) to make Christ statues. He is also followed by a teenage prostitute and a chimpanzee... and another part where he "eats the body of Christ" by devouring one of the statues. Just to give you a sense of the possible sacrilegious nature.

We also have toads and chameleons dressed as Spanish conquistadors, a scene where the alchemist turns excrement to gold (the most blatant metaphor in the film),a gun made from a menorah, and a one-handed, one-footed dwarf. And this is just the beginning.

Those who don't like excessive nudity should avoid the movie. There is an endless supply of male and female full frontal nudity, and a close-up of man's nether region being washed. Apparently, this movie was supposed to star George Harrison but he declines because of the nudity and specifically the washing scene. Harrison, along with John Lennon, largely funded this project (which was produced by Allan Klein).

How to describe this film? Well, I'd say it may be the greatest film ever made if you like cult films. It's sort of like Danny Elfman's "The Forbidden Zone" meets Salvador Dali meets the Beatles meets a snuff film. If that sounds inviting, you need to check this out. If that scares you, run away fast.