El Topo on AllMovie

There are enough storylines and images in this confusing Mexican western to fill hundreds of films. The main story, as nearly as anyone can determine it, concerns the travels, killings, and efforts at redemption of a gunfighter, played by director Jodorowski. In an early scene, he orders a very young boy (presumed to be his son) to bury his only picture of his mother and his only toy. The gunfighter then abandons the boy with the promise that he will come back to kill him, saying "This will teach you not to trust anybody." The "mole" referred to by the title seems to be the gunfighter's dwarf sidekick, whom he picks up during a sojourn among a mysterious underground race of deformed people. This extremely violent film, drenched in brutal imagery, was an underground film hit at the time of its release (1971), and remains a cult favorite.