in light of what is happening with bernardo bertolucci and marlon brando i wanted to remind people that alejandro jodorowsky (most famous for making the holy mountain) directed himself as the lead in el topo, a movie where his character rapes a woman and it was not simulated. in his book he describes finding out that actress mara lorenzio had extreme difficulties with mental health including past institutionalizations and was dependent on drugs before deciding to cast her. he then describes how on one day of the shoot he got her to exert herself until she was weak and then he rolled the camera and, in his own words, “I really…I really…I really raped her. And she screamed”.
he tried to backpedal later in the exact same way that bertolucci has, saying that because she knew there would be a rape scene in the movie the act itself was consensual. jodorowsky is still seen as a cinematic god to many and has suffered no fallout despite the fact that his book revealing all of this came out almost nine years ago. we cannot accept that. we cannot let men off the hook for brutalizing and taking advantage of women in the name of their art.
