Byte-O-Rama

Must Watch Movies Online: El Topo

by Mitchell Calhoun

Alexandro Jodorowsky created El Topo as his own approach to the old western flick. The end result was essentially one of the strangest, most beautiful and most violent westerns ever made. The movie is shocking, at times disgusting, but is also, at times, enlightening and uplifting. Next time you want to watch movies online and you want something bizarre, check out El Topo.

The movie follows a black clad gunfighter named El Topo, beginning with him and his son on a quest for revenge. The mother has been killed, and the father has the son bury a photograph of the mother as a symbolic end to his childhood, and a beginning to his adulthood. The two then trek through the desert to find the man responsible for her death.

After exacting their revenge, the father abandons the boy to the church before going back into the desert with his new lover. The woman insists that he kill the top four killers in the desert before she can love him, as such that she can truly be with the strongest man. They wander the sands for at least a decade trying to seek out all four of these men.

Each of the killers is a fascinating character in their own right, such as the big burly man whose incredible strength also gives him incredible muscle control, so he has the ability to create incredibly delicate, fragile structures out of toothpicks, which Topo cannot even touch without destroying. Then there’s the old man who’s grown into a cynical nihilist after so many years of violence. He uses a butterfly net to deflect bullets, and has no other possessions in the world.

In the end, he has to come to a point of redemption. He goes into a coma and lives in a mountain for five years before waking up, shaving his beard and head, donning a robe and becoming a saint to repent for his previous, murderous lifestyle. He hopes to find forgiveness for himself, but it’s unknown whether or not he is even capable of the forgiveness he hopes to receive.

El Topo reunites with his now-adult son, who has found that the life of a holy man comes with just as many difficulties as the life of a gun fighter. Life is full of difficulties and violence no matter who you are.

The movie touches on so many pieces of symbolism from so many religions that the end result is a bizarre, sort of Andy Warhol-esque mish mash of religions that becomes its own, unique entity. Nobody but the director can pick up on every piece of symbolism in the film, so it’s best to simply enjoy it for what it is.

The movie feels incredibly eerie, it is incredibly violent, shocking, bizarre, it may offend you, but it will also enlighten you, it will elevate you and it will educate you. It is a story of hatred and of love, of revenge and of peace and forgiveness. The trailer says that it is “The single greatest experience of your life”, and while that may be a little bit hyperbolic, you’ve never seen a movie quite like this.

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