Review: Begotten (1990)

Begotten is a film that I can't really explain why I love. It's the first film from E. Elias Merhige who directed Shadow of the Vampire which is another film I greatly appreciate. So here I'm going to give the best synopsis of this film I can. Spoiler alert, but trust me, no matter how I explain, this movie will have the same effect upon first watching.

The movie starts out with God sitting in a cabin, mutilating himself with razor. Soon to come out from behind God who is now sitting dead in his own blood, is Mother Earth who goes on to take gods semen and impregnate herself. She then gives birth to Son of Earth who goes on to get beaten and then tortured by cannibals on earth. This then leads to the killing of Son of Earth and Mother Earth whom are then planted into the ground where the cycle of life starts all over again.

I can't describe my love for this film. The imagery in it is something I have never seen before. Shot in black and white, and filtered in post, the movie looks like a photograph from the 1800's. The image on the movies poster looks like an old ghost photo you'd find on castleofspirits.com. Another thing that I really admire about this film is how reminiscent of a nightmare it is. This film is just like a dream. Apparently the film was inspired by a near death experience E. Elias Merhige had which makes me want to watch this again with that in mind.

Overall, Begotten is one of the strangest films I have ever seen, one of the most interesting films I have ever seen, and one of the best films I have ever seen. It's an interesting look at a myth of earths creation that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Overall I give it a 9/10. It's currently out of print, if you can get your hands on a bootleg, I would strongly recommend giving it a watch.