Begotten (film)

Rare card · No. 19457

Begotten is a 1989 American horror film written and directed by E. Elias Merhige. It stars the largely unknown actors Brian Salzburg, Donna Dempsey, Stephen Charles Barry and members of Merhige's theatre company Theatreofmaterial. The experimental film's unconventional narrative depicts the suicide of a godlike figure and the births of Mother Earth and the Son of Earth, who undertake a journey across a dying world. Merhige directed two short film sequels: 2006's Din of Celestial Birds and 2022's Polia & Blastema: A Cosmic Opera. Merhige conceived Begotten as a dance piece for experimental theatre. It has a gritty visual style, intended to evoke film stock degraded through time and wear. Inspired by documentary footage of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, he decided on a feature film. As with the Hiroshima footage, Begotten is silent. Begotten is infused with mystic and religious themes. Critics have debated whether it reflects popular attitudes towards the origins of life and religion...

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