El topo, agrees to fight and kill the four masters. but I don't understand why, as when we are introduced to him at the start of the film there is no mention of them, or even a quest. He simply comes across the massacre in the town and wreaks terrible vengeance on the brutal bastards that done it! So I don't get why he then thinks it's important to kill these 4 masters, can anyone help?
shareMy two cents:
Mara, the woman, convinces him to kill the masters so he could become the most powerful gunman in the world.
It's kind of like in other movies where someone (usually a Samurai, Jedi, etc.) goes and learns from many powerful figures. In this film, killing them will make him powerful.
But then it turns out that the masters, though they are indeed good gunmen, are actually monks, priests, and other spiritual adepts (listen to the lessons they teach him). El Topo is also always the instigator.
El Topo fails to defeat any of the masters with skill--he either gets lucky or he cheats--so he learns nothing from them. The two women with him realize this and leave/betray him.
After the crippled people rescue him, he meditates on the masters and their lessons for the first time, emerging spiritually invigorated and becoming a monk.
To sum up your question, it was mostly his own greedy ambition and the devilish whispers of the woman that convinced El Topo to kill the masters initially. In the end he regretted it and became a spiritual man. It kind of makes you wonder if the masters were originally like him at some point.
El Topo always had a sense of justice (or else why kill the gang at the beginning?) but whereas in the beginning it was vengeance that drove him, in the end it was replaced with love and sacrifice by helping the disabled colony escape and then dying.
Thank you for a well thought out reply! Whilst the fights with the 4 masters take up the bulk of the film, I do find the first 1/2 hour the best.
shareThere's obviously a strong biblical undercurrent running throughout the film, so the four Masters could be the four major Prophets of the Old Testament: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
They could also represent the four major religions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. The film is definitely anti religion, by its iconography and by Jodorowsky's own admission, so it makes sense to me that the four Masters that El Topo must overcome could represent mainstream and organized religion.
Of course, they could also represent the four major Evangelists of the New Testament: Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.
There's also to consider the four stages of operation to complete the Great Work within alchemy, each marked by a color: Nigredo (black), Albedo (White), Citrinitas (yellow) and finally culminating with Rubedo (red).
Also, in Egyptian mythology (which through syncretism, Christianity stole for their model of the four Evangelists), Horus has four sons, each representative of different aspects of the Self.
Four is a very mystical number, it represents completion. In any mystical or religious system, you will always find every aspect marked by it. Anything grouped in fours is a religious universal symbol.