Santa Sangre
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''Santa Sangre'' ( en, Holy Blood, italic=yes) is a 1989
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
directed by
Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his 1970s films ''El Topo'' and '' The Holy Mountain'', Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work ...
and written by Jodorowsky along with Claudio Argento and
Roberto Leoni Roberto Leoni is an Italian screenwriter and film director best known for such films as ''Santa Sangre'' signed on Empire magazine's 2008 list of th500 Greatest Movies Of All Time '' The Master Touch'' starring Kirk Douglas, '' Street People'' st ...
. It stars
Axel Jodorowsky Axel Cristóbal Jodorowsky (24 July 1965 – 15 September 2022), also known as Cristóbal Jodorowsky, was a Mexican-French actor, writer, painter, playwright, trainer, and tarologist. He was the son of the Chilean-French film and theater direct ...
, Adán Jodorowsky, Teo Jodorowsky,
Brontis Jodorowsky Brontis Jodorowsky (born 27 October 1962) is a Mexican-French actor and theatre director. He is the son of Chilean-French writer, director and actor Alejandro Jodorowsky and French actress Bernadette Landru. Life and career Jodorowsky was born in ...
,
Blanca Guerra Blanca Guerra Islas (born January 10, 1953) is a Mexican actress. In 1983 she was a member of the jury at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival. Films * La loca de los Milagros (1975) * Pedro Páramo (1978) - Dolores Preciado * El se ...
, Thelma Tixou, and
Guy Stockwell Harry Guy Stockwell (November 16, 1933 – February 6, 2002) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes. Life and career Stockwell was born in New York City, the son of singer/dancer Elizabeth "B ...
. An international co-production of Mexico and Italy, the film is set in Mexico, and tells the story of Fenix, a boy who grew up in a
circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...
and his struggle with
childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and ...
. It is signed on ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine's 2008 list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.


Plot

The film starts with a naked figure sitting in a tree in a
mental asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
. Nurses come out to him, to try to coax him off of his perch, using a plate of raw fish to persuade him to come down. As the nurses get him to put on some overalls, it is shown that he has a tattoo of a phoenix on his chest. Years ago, Fenix spends his time performing as a "child magician" in a circus run by his father Orgo, the knife-thrower, and his mother Concha, a trapeze artist and aerialist. The circus crew also includes, among others, a tattooed woman, who acts as the object of Orgo's knife-throwing feats, her adopted daughter Alma (a
deaf mute Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was either deaf and used sign language or both deaf and could not speak. The term continues to be used to refer to deaf people who cannot speak an oral language or have som ...
mime and tightrope walker whom Fenix is close to), Fenix's dwarf friend Aladin, a pack of clowns and an elephant. Orgo carries on a very public flirtation with the tattooed woman, and their knife-throwing act is heavily sexualized. Concha is also the leader of a religious cult that considers as its patron saint a girl who was raped and had her arms cut off by two brothers. Their church is about to be bulldozed at the behest of the landowner, and the followers make one last stand against the police and the bulldozers. A Roman Catholic
Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
arrives to attempt to resolve the conflict, but after he enters the temple to inspect it he deems it
sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physica ...
and angrily leaves in disgust, so the demolition is carried out. Fenix leads Concha back to the circus, where she discovers Orgo's affair, but Orgo, being also a hypnotist, puts Concha in a trance and rapes her. The circus elephant dies, much to Fenix's grief, and a public funeral is conducted, in which the elephant is paraded through the city inside a giant casket. The casket is then dropped into the city dump, where scavengers open it up and proceed to carve up the elephant and take away the
meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...
. Orgo chides Fenix for crying "like a little girl" and tattoos a spread-eagled phoenix onto his chest, identical to the one on his own chest, using a knife dipped in red ink. This tattoo, Orgo says, will make Fenix a man. Later on, Concha, during her trapeze act, sees Orgo and the tattooed woman sneak out of the big top. She chases after them and, seeing them sexually engaged, pours a bottle of sulphuric acid onto Orgo's genitals. Orgo retaliates by cutting off both her arms (much like the girl previously venerated). He then walks into the street and slits his own throat. Fenix witnesses this, locked inside a trailer. He then sees the tattooed woman drive off with Alma. Back in the present, Fenix is taken on a trip out of the asylum to a movie theater along with other patients, most of whom have
Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...
. A pimp intercepts them and persuades them to take
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
and follow him to meet an overweight prostitute. Fenix then spots the tattooed woman, who is now a prostitute, and becomes consumed with rage. Back in the asylum, Fenix's armless mother Concha calls out for him from the street and he escapes by climbing down a rope from his cell window. The tattooed woman is shown trying to prostitute Alma, who runs away and sleeps on the roof of a truck. The tattooed woman is then killed by the hands of an unseen assailant. Fenix and Concha go on to perform an act whereby he stands behind her and moves his arms so that they appear to be Concha's arms. But Concha soon starts to use her son's hands to kill women whom Fenix is interested in, including a young performer and a cross-dressing wrestler. A dream sequence subsequently shows that Fenix has killed many more women, all of whom haunt him. Alma finds Fenix and together they plan to run away from Concha. She tries to force Fenix to murder Alma as well, but, after a struggle, he manages to plunge a knife into Concha's stomach. She vanishes, but not before taunting Fenix by saying she will always be inside of him. Through a quick series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Concha in fact died after being maimed by Orgo, and that Fenix has kept a mannequin of his armless mother for performing on stage and at home, which also now appears in reality to be a thoroughly dilapidated house. He destroys the home-made temple and throws away the mannequin with the help of his imaginary childhood friends, Aladin and the clowns. Alma proceeds to lead Fenix outside the house where police are waiting and order them to put up their hands. As they both comply, Fenix watches his own hands in awe as he does so. Fenix's realization that he has finally regained control of his hands brings him joy and peace.


Cast


Production


Development

Roberto Leoni, who had worked in the library of a psychiatric hospital where he had been in contact with people suffering from
mental disorders A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
, developed a story about
dissociative identity disorder Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states. The di ...
that he told Claudio Argento during a time they worked together. Argento appreciated the story and added to it, and with Leoni, they decided to present it to the director who seemed to them the most suited to the material, Alejandro Jodorowsky. After his
cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
'' The Holy Mountain'' of 1974, Jodorowsky was asked to direct a
film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
of
Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...
’s epic 1965 science fiction novel ''
Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
'' but the project had collapsed, and except for the children’s fable ''
Tusk Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with pigs and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share c ...
'' in 1980 he had stopped directing films, working as a comics writer in France. Jodorowsky developed this story, also telling Leoni the story of
Gregorio Cárdenas Hernández Gregorio "Goyo" Cárdenas Hernández (; Mexico City, 1915 – Los Angeles, 2 August 1999), also known as The Tacuba Strangler (''estrangulador de Tacuba''), was a Mexican serial killer. He was the first serial killer whose case was widely publis ...
, which were in some respects similar, and together they wrote the script of ''Santa Sangre''.


Writing

Roberto Leoni stated that an episode with a patient in the psychiatric hospital was probably the origin of ''Santa Sangre'' because over time he conceived "a story in which even the worst demon actually can't forget he is an angel." In fact, Fenix the character that Leoni created together with Jodorowsky is a serial killer, but "…every time he kills you feel sorry for him, that is you are sorry more for him than for the victim."


Release

Though a Mexican and Italian co-production, ''Santa Sangre'' is in English. In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, it was primarily rated NC-17 for "several scenes of extremely explicit violence". An edited version was released with an R rating for "bizarre, graphic violence and sensuality, and for drug content". Regardless, ''Santa Sangre'' did not receive a
wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...
in the U.S., only screening at a few theaters familiar with Jodorowsky's previous work. In 2004 Anchor Bay released a DVD in the UK. On 25 January 2011,
Severin Films Severin Films is an American film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. History The label was created in 2006 in Los Angeles, and other offices were founded in New York City and Lond ...
gave the film a release on both
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
with more than "five hours of exclusive extras". On Halloween 2019, Morbido Fest, a Mexico City-based festival, held a celebratory 30th anniversary screening of ''Santa Sangre'' remastered in 4K by Severin Films from a scan of the original camera negative. In Italy, from 25 to 27 November 2019, the Videa film society celebrated the 30th anniversary by screening the 4K restored version at select theatres.


Reception


Critical response

The film generally was critically well received, eventually being ranked 476th on ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
s 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. A reviewer from the British
Film 4 Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, it ...
describing the film as "one of Jodorowsky's finest films" which "resonates with all the disturbing power of a clammy nightmare filtered through the hallucinatory lens of 1960s psychedelia."
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
said that he believed it carried the moral message of genuinely opposing evil, rather than celebrating it like most contemporary horror films. Ebert described it as "a horror film, one of the greatest, and after waiting patiently through countless Dead Teenager Movies, I am reminded by Alejandro Jodorowsky that true psychic horror is possible on the screen – horror, poetry, surrealism, psychological pain, and wicked humor, all at once." , the film had an 86% rating on review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 43 reviews, with a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
of 7.4/10. The site's consensus stated: "Those unfamiliar with Alejandro Jodorowsky's style may find it overwhelming, but ''Santa Sangre'' is a provocative psychedelic journey featuring the director's signature touches of violence, vulgarity, and an oddly personal moral center."


Accolades

The film was screened at the V Muestra de Cine Mexicano en Guadalajara where several groups of people left the room during the screening. ''Santa Sangre'' is considered a cult movie and the restored print of the film was screened in 2008 Cannes Classics It was also screened during Locarno Film Festival 2016 Histoire(s) du cinéma: Pardo d'onore Swisscom Alejandro Jodorowsky


References


External links

* * *
Santa Sangre on Mr Bongo
{{Alejandro Jodorowsky 1989 films 1989 horror films 1980s horror thriller films Mexican LGBT-related films Mexican horror thriller films Mexican avant-garde and experimental films 1980s English-language films English-language Mexican films English-language Italian films Films about sideshow performers 1980s serial killer films Transgender-related films Italian serial killer films Films about children Fiction with unreliable narrators Italian nonlinear narrative films Films set in Mexico Films shot in Mexico Mexican independent films Films directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky Films scored by Simon Boswell 1980s Italian films 1980s Mexican films