El Topo
(The Mole)
Written, Directed, and Starring Alejandro Jodorowsky
1970
(re-released on DVD 2007)
European art films can suffer from dense cinematic symbolism - and this movie certainly has much of this strangeness It also definitely works. Stylistically it is a spaghetti western but it is much more of an allegory than any other contribution to that genre.
The start of the movie left me perplexed. I think my interpretation may help to make sense of the movie, so a bit of a spoiler, which may or may not be true.
After Jodorowsky's wife is killed by a rampaging gang of thugs he is left only with his naked son, his horse and guns, and a picture of his beloved.
Though the movie starts with his pursuit of the killers but is really about the many challenges he and his son face in the decades following.
In company of the recent 'Dark Knight' release 'The Mole' sits very well. Being a hero is not so simple as it seems, and it will change your life of your entire family forever.