Plot from Imdb: "A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood"), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother. Against his will, he "becomes her arms" and the two undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge."
Compared to other Jodorowsky's movies, Santa Sangre is almost linear in its narration and seems closer to more classical psychological thrillers, like "Psycho" or Brian De Palma's. The big difference resides in the contextual elements around: circus, theater, religion, psychiatry and sex. The entire movie is drenched in a "Freaks circus" mood , similar to the Gothic aspect of Todd Browning cinema. One main achievement of S.Sangre is to plunge us into the complex mind of the main protagonist and watch the traumatic experiences of his childhood unfold. As such, the "traumatic" memories he had, as over the top can they be, are depicted brilliantly. The rest of the movie, as an adult, acting as the missing parts of his mother body, is a little less interesting, even if the scenes are still visually mesmerizing, thanks to the artistic direction and Jodorowsky talent as an actor. An interesting aspect of his work is that he mixes efficiently the crude reality of the life in the dark underbelly of Mexico to some very symbolic, if not poetic, visions, that seems to come out of a Luis Buñuel movie. Less complex than "The Holy Mountain", less cult than "El Topo", Santa Sangre is still one of my favorite movie from this multi-talented artist.
Original Trailer:
Japanese Trailer:
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