This is not just a movie
THIS is a cinematic orgasm! For start to finish, "Santa Sangre" stands for one brilliant sequence after another, a staggering use of color shades, sensational musical guidance, disturbing themes and some of the most original story ideas that never ever featured in cinema before! To sum the film up in simply one word, it would be: AMAZING! I caught myself staring at the screen with my eyes and mouth wide open most of the time and I kept on thinking how I never wanted this movie to end. "Santa Sangre" unhesitatingly catapulted itself in my top-5 movies of all-time and I sincerely think it's there to stay. It's not very often that you encounter a film that is impossible to categorize under simply one genre, yet the masterful director Alejandro Jodorowsky here successfully assembles various genres like it's no trouble at all. To define "Santa Sangre" as just another foreign horror movie would be obvious, but at the same time truly short-sighted, as it contains an equally large amount of genuine drama that is actually a lot more captivating than most Oscar-winning (and hugely overrated) motion pictures. And if that isn't enough yet, this simultaneously is an immensely artistic and experimental effort that brings forward uniquely bizarre visions and dared symbolism.
The story is composed of two main chapters that are set in different eras, but both revolving on protagonist Fenix, who is briefly introduced as a resident in a mental institution. The fist (and most dazzling) part of the film is a 40 minutes long flashback in which we get an illustration of Fenix' unpleasant childhood. He's the son of traveling circus artists, and a promising young magician himself, but they don't exactly form a model family. Fenix' alcoholic and aggressive father has an affair with the obscene tattooed woman and his mother is the leader of a dangerously fanatic cult that worships an armless Goddess. Another violent argument between the parents results in a real tragedy that settles young Fenix up with an everlasting trauma. This brilliantly choreographed flashback is indescribably unsettling, and this without showing much graphic images. Tod Browning's classic film "Freaks" already made clear that a circus can be a truly petrifying place and the wide versatility of eerie characters (midgets, clowns, white-faced acrobats, magicians ) is well represented in Jodorowsky's imagination as well. Particularly Fenix' father is a disturbing man, not in the least because he subjects his own son to bloody rituals that supposedly make a 'real man' out of him. Despite the constant atmosphere of surrealism, these were some of the most shocking 40 minutes of my life.
The second and larger part of the film is slightly less powerful, mainly because Jodorowsky's script tries to convince us of something that clearly is implausible. Under the influence of his mother who returns after many years, Fenix escapes the mental clinic and starts to give shows again with a totally new act. The mother is still very dominating, though, and merely sees her son as an instrument with killer arms that she can use to avenge herself. Only the reuniting with his long lost love can bring some peace and quiet in Fenix' unbalanced life. This second part is far bloodier than the first and the uncanny circus setting has been replaced with grim big city ghettos where drug abuse and prostitution are the most natural things in the world. This surrounding is still disturbing but definitely less overwhelming than the circus, also because you're more familiar with it. The clear references towards Freud and the infamous Oedipus syndrome still work but they aren't new things anymore. Thank God everything is still filmed in a hugely fascinating way, with camera angles and color shades that pretty much make your head spin, and most characters actually evoke real sentiments of compassion and admiration. Especially Alma, I loved her! In conclusion, "Santa Sangre" is a terribly neglected movie that deserves a ranking in the IMDb top-250 (honestly!) and I wish I could reward it with a rating higher than 10 out of 10.
The story is composed of two main chapters that are set in different eras, but both revolving on protagonist Fenix, who is briefly introduced as a resident in a mental institution. The fist (and most dazzling) part of the film is a 40 minutes long flashback in which we get an illustration of Fenix' unpleasant childhood. He's the son of traveling circus artists, and a promising young magician himself, but they don't exactly form a model family. Fenix' alcoholic and aggressive father has an affair with the obscene tattooed woman and his mother is the leader of a dangerously fanatic cult that worships an armless Goddess. Another violent argument between the parents results in a real tragedy that settles young Fenix up with an everlasting trauma. This brilliantly choreographed flashback is indescribably unsettling, and this without showing much graphic images. Tod Browning's classic film "Freaks" already made clear that a circus can be a truly petrifying place and the wide versatility of eerie characters (midgets, clowns, white-faced acrobats, magicians ) is well represented in Jodorowsky's imagination as well. Particularly Fenix' father is a disturbing man, not in the least because he subjects his own son to bloody rituals that supposedly make a 'real man' out of him. Despite the constant atmosphere of surrealism, these were some of the most shocking 40 minutes of my life.
The second and larger part of the film is slightly less powerful, mainly because Jodorowsky's script tries to convince us of something that clearly is implausible. Under the influence of his mother who returns after many years, Fenix escapes the mental clinic and starts to give shows again with a totally new act. The mother is still very dominating, though, and merely sees her son as an instrument with killer arms that she can use to avenge herself. Only the reuniting with his long lost love can bring some peace and quiet in Fenix' unbalanced life. This second part is far bloodier than the first and the uncanny circus setting has been replaced with grim big city ghettos where drug abuse and prostitution are the most natural things in the world. This surrounding is still disturbing but definitely less overwhelming than the circus, also because you're more familiar with it. The clear references towards Freud and the infamous Oedipus syndrome still work but they aren't new things anymore. Thank God everything is still filmed in a hugely fascinating way, with camera angles and color shades that pretty much make your head spin, and most characters actually evoke real sentiments of compassion and admiration. Especially Alma, I loved her! In conclusion, "Santa Sangre" is a terribly neglected movie that deserves a ranking in the IMDb top-250 (honestly!) and I wish I could reward it with a rating higher than 10 out of 10.