Santa Sangre (1989)

November 9, 2024 4:56 PM

[Trailer] A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult - and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms". -IMDb

89% / 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.

posted by johnofjack (14 comments total)

What a strange and fascinating film. Did I like it? Yes. Did I understand all of it? LOL no. I felt there was definitely some symbolism I missed, probably also a lot of cultural context which would have helped make sense of some of it. (I'd say this is a problem with me, not a problem with the film.)
posted by johnofjack at 4:57 PM on November 9 [2 favorites]

They don't make enough screwy films like this.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 5:24 PM on November 9 [1 favorite]

I got to see a screening/reinterpretation of this at Theater Mitu earlier this year (they had me at "explosive blood choreography") and it was a hoot. I feel like this one is relatively straightforward for a Jodorowski film, which works in its favor and to its detriment-- it's much easier to watch than, say, El Topo, but it lacks that certain WTF umami.
posted by phooky at 7:09 AM on November 10 [2 favorites]

Like so many people I know of Jodorowsky because the internet told me he had a vision for a Dune adaptation. Less than 5 seconds into the trailer and I thought 'Jodorowsky' just before his name appears.

I feel a bit like the monkey at the end of time typing the final word of "King Lear"
posted by ginger.beef at 7:49 AM on November 10 [2 favorites]

This seems to be Jodorowsky's attempt to make a mainstream film, so...make of that what you will, I guess!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:55 AM on November 10

This is the only Jodorowsky film that I've seen, and if this was a relatively "mainstream" film for him, I'm not sure that I'd like some of his better/more notorious films more or less. Maybe his version of Dune would have been great, but I'm one of the people who thinks that "David Lynch's Dune" sounds better as a concept than it actually was.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:49 AM on November 10 [3 favorites]

I enjoyed it; somewhat uneven in its themes and message, but still wacky and unhinged in a way I like.

My sister, the heavily-tattooed burlesque dancer, says this was a movie she'd put on during parties and see how long it takes before either someone says "what the hell is this", or the party grinds to a halt because everybody's watching.
posted by AzraelBrown at 10:21 AM on November 11 [4 favorites]

I've seen this many times and never tire of it - probably Jodorowsky's best and maybe most accessible film. I think Rainbow Thief was the real mainstream film (which I don't think works as well as this). The more notorious El Topo and Holy Mountain are off putting for contemporary audiences but I think they are still singular works that are worth exploring.

Years ago, I kicked in some money for his son Adan's (he plays young Fenix in this) short film (called the Voice Thief). One of the rewards was a DVD of Santa Sangre which he claimed was from his dad's actual copy (no idea if this was true) and watching it is clearly directly from a film print (with all the scratches and deterioration you'd expect). Utterly ridiculous and probably spurious but a treasured possession nonetheless.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:06 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]

Interestingly, Jodorowsky's next film after this WAS a mainstream effort - The Rainbow Thief reunited Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. It's not particularly good, and quite obvious that this was a work-for-hire project rather than a passion project.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:20 PM on November 11

Interestingly, of his 2 mainstream films Rainbow Thief and his "family film" Tusk both remain commercially unavailable (they are obviously available elsewhere).
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:00 PM on November 11

My avant-garde auntie recommended Santa Sangre to me when I was 16, and it completely weirded me out, for the better. They didn't teach us about these things in Catholic school. Watching it a second time 30-something years later, I appreciated it on a different and much less visceral level.

"Keellll herrrrr!!!"
posted by abraxasaxarba at 5:24 PM on November 11

OK, it's worth remembering that Jodorowsky is a self-confessed rapist, although he later denied it. So there is that.

Secondly, I had a roommate that loved this movie. Twice I watched him invite friends to go see it. Later, I would encounter them and ask how. they liked it. They just shuddered, and my roommate looked sad. So there is also that.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:19 PM on November 11

Ashwagandha - GAH! Sorry I missed your comment. I cheerfully withdraw mine!
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:42 PM on November 12

This is a favorite of mine. It's far more straightforward than his earlier movies, which utilized themes and symbolism that probably made more sense to Jordorowsky and his state of mind at the time, but have since aged less well.

Santa Sangre gathers a slew of themes that just connect with me. The quasi-Catholic Santa Sangre cult, the likes of which are scattered about much of Latin America, just rings so true. The circus, the bloated, drunken, American father, the Mexican mother who forever dictates her son's life, the elephant funeral, suicide, mental illness, tattooed seductress, mute girl, The Invisible Man, lucha libre, Perez Prado, etc. It amazes that all those things could be linked together and actually be more coherent, tighter, and actually entertaining than Jodorowsky's earlier movies.
posted by 2N2222 at 8:42 PM on November 13 [2 favorites]