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SANTA SANGRE

Oh Lydia, oh, Lydia, say have you met Lydia

Oh, Lydia, the tattooed lady

She has eyes that folks adore so

And a torso even more so

Lydia, oh, Lydia, that encyclopedia

Oh, Lydia, the queen of them all

On her back is the Battle of Waterloo

Beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too

And proudly above the waves

The Red, White and Blue

You can learn a lot from Lydia

-Lydia the Tattooed Lady, E.Y. Harburg / Harold Arlen


So weird one group who follows a made up religion would scold others for doing the same thing. as long as your not killing anybody or spreading misinformation i say knock yourself out


Santa Sangre is a 1989 avant-garde surreal horror film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and written by Jodorowsky along with Claudio Argento and Roberto Leoni. It stars Axel Jodorowsky, Adán Jodorowsky, Teo Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Thelma Tixou, and Guy Stockwell.


A young man -- starving, nearly catatonic and barely responsive -- is confined in a sanitarium. He is taken on a field trip along with other residents to the city's red-light district. There, he encounters by chance a woman from his past, triggering a series of flashbacks. We see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers, and when he witnessed a murder/suicide: his father -- an American expatriate living in Mexico under suspicious circumstances -- cuts off the arms of his beloved mother, a possessive wife and religious fanatic who led a heretical church called "Santa Sangre (Holy Blood)," the members of which worshipped a martyred girl whose arms were severed by her father following her rape, and then commit suicide. Back in the present, buttressed by shock of his remembrance, he escapes the sanitarium and, in a series of hallucinations and dream-fulfillments, believes he has rejoined his armless mother. He "becomes her arms" and the "two" undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge.


This movie is straight up bonkers. its half crazy day of the dead style city wide horny carnival, half disgusting scenes of rape, death, and abuse. in this movies world, sex and violence rule above all else, and if you are anything other than a killer or a whore you are simply a taregt for some hard to watch abuse. 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 quote

"a story in which even the worst demon actually can't forget he is an angel. Every time he kills you feel sorry for him, that is you are sorry more for him than for the victim."

Although this movie is absolutely beautiful start to finish, i really couldn't find myself feeling sorry for Fenix or connecting to his character at all. A lot of that has to do with the line overdubbing, a lot of it has to do with the bizarre dialogue, and you know the whole wanting to fuck your mom thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. this movie is an Italian/Mexican co production, and the combination of so many cultures i know next to nothing about leaves you a bit shell shocked on your first watch, and the surreal elements can leave you confused as to exactly why we are being shown certain scenes and how it all ties together.


if i were to re-watch this movie this movie i would certainly get more out of it, but to a first timer this movie is a bit to unfamiliar for me to really make sense of.


but i would be a liar if i said i didn't enjoy trying to piece it all together


7/10


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