i couldn't DISAGREE more. yes, Jodorowsky's early films bare the marks of their particular time. but so what? many films from, say, the 1940s that people still watch and enjoy bare the marks of their time just as much...BUT...those films, and also Jodorowsky's early films, also have much that *transcends* their time, or people wouldn't still watch. also, part of this involves how certain things that didn't seem relevant or contemporary anymore at one time suddenly become relevant again because the tide turns. consider, for instance, the bits in Holy Mountain referencing the protest demonstrations of the youth. RELEVANT AGAIN, and, alas, perenially relevant, as we now have the Iraq war and one god damned war after another.

i also don't agree about the length. i can *understand it* when people say that Jodorowsky tries to do too much in one film...but i don't feel that way myself.

Dated? How can truth be dated?
How can people not see that one could almost call it prophetic?
Okay, you can see the strings and 2x4s, as it were, it was a comparatively cheap production.
And yes, costumes etc. are those of the early 70s, so what?
But would you reject, for example, Kubrick's Clockwork Orange for those reasons? Eisenstein's Potemkin?
With all respect, I find your comment snobbish and ignorant.
Maybe it's because Montana Sacra was, is and probably will be my favorite movie ever...
So there.

I love the movie and have seen it about 6 times in the last two year.
First at screenings. Then by having screenings with friends with the new DVD.

I'll say this some people do not like it...
A number of people didn't react well to it finding it too dark, or uncomfortable.
Some people liked the later half better because the journey to the mountain felt more linear.
Other people didn't like that part for the same reason.

There is a lot of art I don't like, but I still know it is great.
Just not to my taste.
Holy Mountain is a masterpiece and obviously from this list still enjoyed thoroughly by many.
Cheers
RR.

I think many of the contemporary film and art interested people probably don't have a very solid core...I think Jodorowsky speaks to elemental and subtle qualities of being human. Many of my fellow youth are unjustly arrogant about knowing what "art" is when many of them haven't noticed that films have being made for a very long time that were surreal and managed to be metaphoric. And before that paintings and books and performances and musical pieces and the like. Before computer adjustments and wide range audiences there still was art and there was definitely a share of interesting art.
I think the people in the film series class or whatever it is may need a few more life experiences, some sacred experiences, or perhaps to simply open up a little bit more. Fuck knows. There are people out there however that will understand the movie and enjoy it.... I did and I am 20.

Hmm, I agree about the whole remastered thing. I watched it first as the 70s film version and I was like damn, I wish I could see this in more vivid colors and audio because I'd like to get a very crisp feel for it....so I bought the boxset...
When I saw the quality on the boxset I smiled.
But in regards to people's reception of it? I don't know the backgrounds and mental composition of the people that are in your film series class. I think its unfortunate that they had trouble appreciating a film made with composed artistic sequences and use of color and dialogue and dimensions in a more simplistic and finite way than most special effects movies or contemporary surrealistic movies. I enjoyed Holy Mountain perhaps even more than El Topo...although El Topo is the one that everyone has heard of and wants to see first. I don't know....I think your inital post is kind of trolling....perhaps if you could tell us more of what the students said rather than a shortsighted generalization....we could all have a more fruitful discussion.

sigh... Maybe if they think holy mountain is dated they should stick to watching transformers movies. I'm 22 and think the movie is great