John Lennon’s Controversial Influence: The Rise and Fall of Alejandro Jodorowsky

Trigger Warning: The following references to a troubling sexual assault.

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, they each continued to produce their own music independently, as well as endorsing the work of other new creators. The Beatles’ Apple Corps label continued to support up-and-coming artists such as Badfinger, and their creative promotion extended to the world of film as well. The most famous, George Harrison took out a mortgage on his house to help fund the Monty Python movie Brian’s lifeHarrison claiming that the filmmakers embodied in the 70s what the Beatles had in the 60s. Less known, however, is John Lennongets involved in the approval Alejandro JodorowskyLe film Acid Western The molea horrifying feature, especially given the extremely problematic nature of the circumstances surrounding the film’s production.

The 1970 Mexican film, which translates to “The Mole,” opens with its title character (played by writer-director Jodorowsky himself) riding with his naked, cherub-like son (played by his real-life son Brontis Jodorowsky). After encountering the remains of a massacred city, El Topo tracks down the perpetrators and kills them, inviting their captive wife Marah (Mara Lorenzio) to join him, leaving his son Hijo with the monks he freed. Later, El Topo apparently rapes Marah, strangely changing her attitude towards El Topo to one that is more liberated and adventurous. Marah says she refuses to fully love El Topo until he proves he is the best, by finding and defeating the famous four Desert Master Fighters. This task, however, is only introduced for 30 minutes into the film and ends two-thirds into the film. From there, a betrayed El Topo embarks on a different mission to help the disabled cave dwellers escape their fate. And that’s just the tip of The molethe iceberg of absurdity!

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What is “El Topo” really about?

During his mission to defeat the four masters of the desert, the character’s doubt of his task grows. Each master represents a different Judeo-Christian practice or Eastern philosophy, and though they surpass and dominate him, he beats them each with nothing more than tricks and luck. It is only after Marah and another woman become lovers that El Topo is forced to accept that he has been betrayed, and is later enlightened by a group of underground cave dwellers unable to s escape due to their disability. This subterranean setting is not where El Topo (or The Mole) gets its name, however, as the film’s opening explains; “The mole digs tunnels under the earth, looking for the sun. Sometimes it comes to the surface. When she sees the sun, she is blinded.” While this imagery is referenced to the film’s climax when El Topo breaks through the tunnel wall, it also lends itself to metaphorical reading. It is perhaps a reference to the biblical story of Paul-becoming-Saul which would explain the titles of the chapters of the story (Genesis, Prophets, Psalms, etc.). Ultimately, the film’s absurd style insists on being experienced and not explained, leaving its true meaning in the hands of each viewer.

The mole was released in 1970, at a time when spaghetti westerns had long hijacked the western genre. Spaghetti Westerns were more artistic and gritty representations of American frontier stories than those told by Hollywood and were mostly shot cheaply on location in Italy. Although this is where the subgenre got its name, it developed such a specific visual, auditory, and performative style that other countries and cultures quickly became known for their own interpretations of the spaghetti western genre. One such “sub-subgenre” is “Acid Western,” which blends the religious metaphor of the original Hollywood Westerns with the modern spaghetti western flair. The mole is said by the GameSpot to have been the original Acid Western.

“El Topo” has always been aimed at American audiences

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker born to Ukrainian Jewish parents in Chile. His first movie, Fando and Lisfollows post-apocalyptic survivor Fando (Sergio Kleiner) and his paraplegic girlfriend Lis (Diane Marshal) as they journey through a desert to find the mythical city of Tar and achieve enlightenment. The film premiered in 1968 at the Acapulco Film Festival where its controversial content caused a riot, forcing Mexico to ban the film. It will not be released there until 1972, a year after being redubbed and published. When Jodorowsky fired The mole in Mexico, it was never intended for Mexican audiences, instead focusing on the modern New York art scene. There, the owner of the Elgin Theater Ben Barenholtz tried and failed to buy the US rights after becoming fascinated with the film, even despite the departure of several audience members. Barenholtz, however, managed to convince his producer to show the film in his cinema.

A lover of New York’s avant-garde art scene, John Lennon was in the audience one night and found The mole delightfully surreal. Jodorowsky would later recall: “When I brought The mole in New York, no one understood the painting. But John Lennon understood. John and Yoko Onothey presented The mole in the USA; they introduced it. Lennon urged the Beatles manager Toddler invest in future Jodorowsky productions and shortly thereafter Klein’s company ABKCO Films became The mole‘s distributor in the United States, showing the film across the country. At Lennon’s request, the composer Jean Barham even re-recorded the score at Abbey Road Studios for release on Apple Records. Many thanks to John Lennon, The mole became an underground sensation and helped make Jodorowsky a renowned artist and filmmaker. But it hasn’t been without controversy.

How did John Lennon’s influence lead to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Rise & Fall?

While trying to promote his shocking film, Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to shock the press by saying, “I had put a clause in all the women’s contracts that they wouldn’t have sex with the director.” This was quoted in the 1972 book El Topo: a film book by Jodorowsky himself. “We went into the desert with two other people: the photographer and a technician. Nobody else. I said, ‘I’m not going to repeat. There will only be one take because it will be impossible to repeat. […] I really raped her. And she screamed.” Later, amid the #MeToo movement, Jodorowsky claimed to have fabricated this story for its shock value, expressing regret at his words. “I agree that this statement is problematic in that it presents fictional violence against a woman. as a tool of exposition, and now, fifty years later, I regret that this is read as the truth. My practice is centered on healing and love. I invite to continue the dialogue in a spirit of progress.”

After The moleJodorowsky used Allen Klein’s investment to direct 1973 The Holy Mountain, whose lead role was initially offered to George Harrison. Jodorowsky claims that Harrison refused because of a scene in which he had to show his anus on camera next to a live hippopotamus. Klein asked Jodorowsky to make his next film an adaptation of the French BDSM novel The story of O, but when, as the Deadline reported, Jodorowsky refused due to the sexism of the material, Klein removed Jodorowsky’s existing films from his company’s distribution list for more than thirty years. Ultimately, Lennon’s work to bring Klein and Jodorowsky together would explain both the rise and fall of the auteur director.

Despite his unorthodox cinematic style, it’s worth noting how obscure Jodorowsky has become over the years. His work has inspired some of the world’s most renowned art filmmakers, including David Lynch et Nicolas Winding Refnwith The mole specifically cited as an inspiration for Monts VerbinskiIt is Range. Apparently, RangeIt is Johnny Depp was attached to the star at the sides Marilyn Manson in a sequel to The mole called Abelcain or The Sons of El Topo, but Jodorowsky struggled to raise the funds. The sequel eventually became a graphic novel. Tragically enough, perhaps Jodorowsky’s most famous film today is a documentary about his version of a Dune adaptation he was never able to make. Instead, Jodorowsky fan David Lynch was hired to adapt Franck Herbertepic space romance. Jodorowsky Dune is a showcase of how a filmmaker’s countless hours of hard work and dedication can be let go without the proper support, highlighting how Lennon’s endorsement The mole was all the more essential to show Jodorowsky’s work.