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SANTA SANGRE
A truly amazing 1989 film by Alejandro Jodorowsky, one of the world’s most fascinating (yet woefully under appreciated) filmmakers. Bold, violent, surreal and completely irresistible, it’s one of the decade’s finest films.
The Package
Connoisseurs of Really Weird Cinema should know the work of Alejandro
Jodorowsky, whose mind boggling EL TOPO (1970) made history as the first-ever
Midnight Movie. The even-weirder
HOLY MOUNTAIN followed in 1973. Both films
are unfortunately owned by Allen Klein (the former manager of John Lennon, a
huge fan of EL TOPO), who subsequently yanked ‘em from distribution for over
three decades and nearly destroyed Jodorowsky’s film career (although in recent
years Jodorowsky and Klein have put aside their differences).
Since his failed attempt to film Frank Herbert’s DUNE
in the seventies, Jodorowsky has concentrated mainly on scripting comic serials
(you’re advised to seek out the extraordinary three-part Jodorowsky-Moebious
collaboration THE INCAL) and made only three films: 1980’s disastrous TUSK,
1990’s THE RAINBOW THIEF, which wasn’t much better, and SANTA SANGRE. With it
Jodorowsky, working with producer Claudio Argento (Dario’s brother), created one
of his finest works. Filmed in Mexico with largely Italian financing,
Jodorowsky’s feat is all the more astonishing considering that SANTA SANGRE’S
budget was a mere $800,000.
The Story
Fenix is an ex-circus performer interned in an insane asylum. Flashbacks
show his horrific childhood, dominated by a philandering father and religious
fanatic mother; she was part of the “Santa Sangre” (Holy Blood) religion
centered on an armless woman. Fenix’s father, meanwhile, was obsessed with
tattooing, and carved a phoenix tattoo into his son’s chest. When dad runs off
one night with the tattooed woman, mom gets revenge by throwing acid on his
genitals; he in turn cuts both her arms off (turning her into the
personification of her religious idol) and then slashes his own throat.
Back in the present, Phoenix spots his armless mother outside his asylum
window one morning. He promptly breaks out and runs off with her. They starts
up a stage act with Fenix providing his mother’s missing arms, an act that
continues offstage...but Fenix, suffering from near-constant hallucinations,
also embarks on a killing spree, brutally slaughtering women (and one
transvestite) who arouse him sexually. This continues until Alma, Fenix’s long
lost childhood love, returns, forcing him to confront his ruined life and
twisted relationship with his mother.
The Direction
The late Billy Wilder once advised beginning filmmakers to “leave a little
spring for the pearl instead of making every moment a jewel.” Alejandro
Jodorowsky is one filmmaker who definitely hasn’t followed that advice: SANTA
SANGRE is literally packed to the gills with surreal wonders. Jodorowsky’s
script is a marvel of feverish imagination, yet the film contains countless
wonders not explicitly related to the story. These include the sight of a
dying elephant bleeding from its trunk; when it passes, it’s placed in a giant
coffin which is pushed off a cliff into a ravine, where a mob of vagrants
greedily pick it apart. Then there’s the guy who rips off one of his ears and
offers it to Alma...and a nighttime jaunt through a mass of high-spirited
transvestites...and the strangely hypnotic “creation of the world” act the
protagonist puts on with his armless mother, using his arms in place of her own.
Yes, this is bizarre stuff, but Jodorowsky also demonstrates an awareness
of classic horror cinema that he isn’t afraid to reference throughout
(unsurprisingly, this film is said to be favorite of
Quentin Tarantino). Most
obvious is the INVISIBLE MAN reference that crops up when Fenix tries to imitate
the film, which happens to be playing on television. The dark, cavernous
interior of Fenix’s mother’s house was clearly patterned after THE CABINET OF
DR. CALIGARI, while her surrogate arms obviously come from THE HANDS OF ORLAC.
The twisted mother-son dynamic of PSYCHO is another evident influence, as is the
sideshow setting of FREAKS.
Both a dreamy fantasist and a competent craftsman, Alejandro Jodorowsky
remains a brilliant (though frustratingly inconsistent) filmmaker. His
incredible surreal images are utterly without precedent and he really
knows how to stretch limited funds (see his HOLY MOUNTAIN, which, though saddled
with a paltry $500,000 budget, has the look of a Hollywood epic). SANTA SANGRE
may be a tad overstuffed and filled with stilted performances (Jodorowsky likes
using non-professional actors, a trend that’s evident throughout...and not
always in a good way!), but the net result is such an incredible flood of
imagination and grotesquerie that the viewer has no choice but to lower his
defenses and be swept along. And it’s quite a ride.
Vital Statistics
SANTA SANGRE
Productora Filmica Real/Produzioni Intersound
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Producer: Claudio Argento
Screenplay: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Claudio Argento, Roberto Leoni
Cinematography: Daniele Nannuzzi
Editor: Mauro Bonanni
Cast: Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou, Sabrina
Dennison, Adan Jodorowsky, Faviola Elenka Tapia, Teo Jodorowsky, Maria de Jesus
Aranzabal, Jesus Juarez, Sergio Bustamante, Gloria Contreras, S. Rodriguez,
Zonia Rangel Mora