God (Brian Salzburg), represented by a hooded man, commits suicide by disemboweling himself with a straight razor. A woman, representing Mother Earth (Donna Dempsey), emerges from under the corpse and performs manual stimulation on God’s penis. When the corpse ejaculates Mother Earth takes some of the semen, places it into her vagina and becomes pregnant.
Mother Earth gives birth to an adult son (Stephen Charles Barry). She abandons the convulsing offspring in the wilderness. A group of robed figures appear and haul the “Son of Mother Earth” away. The Earth child appears to vomit up organs which the robed figures eat. They then kill the son and burn him in a pit.
The robed figures leave and Mother Earth returns. She restores her son to life, puts a rope around his neck and walks him away like he is a pet. The robed figures return. They beat up the son and rape Mother Earth until she dies. Her son mourns over her dead body. Her corpse is taken away by a different group of robed figures. They return to take the son. He is killed and cut into pieces along with Mother Earth. They are both buried in the earth to return the Earth to life when the cycle continues.
“Begotten” was released in 1989 at the Montreal World Film Festival, in 1990 for the San Francisco International Film Festival in the U.S., and 1991 for the U.S. general release. It was written, directed and produced by Edmund Elias Merhige. The film is an experimental horror film done in an expressionistic style. The movie was shot in black and white reversal film that was done to mimic an old silent film.
It is a strange and rather obscure film. The imagery is very disturbing at times. People talk about how gross the movie is but not about how explicit it is. Because of the way it’s filmed, it’s not obvious. The film is purposely grainy and difficult to see.
The plot of the movie seems to be in the eye of the beholder. I’ve seen several interpretations that vary widely. I’m not surprised since the film has no dialogue but lots of symbolism and the visuals are vague. Most believe it has something to do with the relationship between God, Nature and Mankind or the birth of humanity. For most of the film, Son of Mother Earth is connected to a rope that is, I think, supposed to represent an umbilical cord. Others believe whatever they can dream up. The views of the film’s meaning are numerous. Regardless of how you understand the film, it is hard, disturbing and blasphemous.
The various techniques used to create and express the creator’s views also make it difficult to understand. Although it is inventive, it can be difficult to keep your attention. Images are repeated and the editing is sometimes choppy and sometimes drawn out. The net result is something both abstract and subjective. It’s not for everyone.