Begotten, 1989.
Directed by E. Elias Merhige.
Starring Brian Salzberg, Donna Dempsey and Stephen Charles Barry.
SYNOPSIS:
A surreal depiction of the relationship between God, Man and Mother Nature.
It’s a strange fact of my life that I have spent over half a decade watching all kinds of weird, gory, gooey and grotesque horror films. I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff in my time doing this series, but today we’re taking a dip into the world of the avant-garde to look at something that is among the strangest things I’ve ever seen; the surreal, experimental horror of Begotten.
Presented entirely without dialogue, Begotten is said to be a depiction of the creation of the Earth and the birth of humanity. However, notice that I wrote “said to be” because, based on what is shown on screen, you’d be hard-pressed to know just what the hell is going on or what it all means.
The film begins with a strange-robed figure sitting in a dilapidated woodland shack. This mysterious figure, wearing a ghoulish, fleshy, blood-stained mask seemingly made by Leatherface, sits convulsing in the corner, spewing blood from its mouth. After some time spent shuddering in pain, the masked ghoul takes a straight razor and disembowels itself in a gruesome act of self-mutilation. Believe it or not, this character is meant to be God.
Then, after God has killed himself (is it blasphemous to say that?), another robed figure emerges from his juddering corpse. This is Mother Earth, who, after posing like she’s in the world’s eeriest shampoo advert, takes some sperm from God’s corpse (Sperm from God’s Corpse is my favourite fictional death metal band) and inseminates herself, instantly becoming pregnant.
Mother Earth then births a convulsing man with scaly skin (who looks like me when I suffered a nasty spell of eczema) and then abandons him. This man is Son of Earth, who represents humanity. After some time, a group of robed nomads take Son of Earth and drag him by his umbilical cord through a barren wasteland, all the while, Son of Earth vomits up organs. He is then burned to death in a firepit before being brought back to life by Mother Earth. Then the nomads kill both of them. That’s essentially the entire film in a nutshell, and while you may start to type your complaints about spoilers, I only know that’s what happens because I looked it up afterwards.
Designed in such a fashion to be as deliberately indecipherable as possible, Begotten is a wide-open book in which viewers can read all kinds of interpretations. There are arguments stating that the film is about death and rebirth, as possibly symbolised by Son of Man dying and returning to life. There are arguments about suffering, and that’s not just from watching the film, based on the scenes of Son of Man being tormented by the nomads. There are also arguments about the film’s spiritual and religious influences, with it said to be featuring references to Christian, Celtic and Slavic mythologies, among others.
These are merely a handful of the numerous interpretations, with many volumes and essays written about what Begotten is about, and one can see why it continues to inspire discussion, with the film’s vague story and cryptic imagery leaving plenty to analyse and debate.
If I may be permitted to be pretentious for just a moment, I view Begotten as a dark reimagining of stories found in the Bible. For instance, Son of Man’s story is essentially a nightmarish retelling of the life and death of Jesus. A man born of God and Mother Nature to suffer, die and be resurrected only to suffer once more for the sins of humanity, with the scenes depicting Son of Man’s organs being taken by Nomads playing almost like a gruesome horror-tinged version of communion, with them literally feasting upon the body of Christ. And obviously, the title of the film itself speaks to its biblical influences, it being a direct reference to the status of Jesus as God’s “only begotten son”.
While it is a thematic buffet for the more pretentious chin stroking cinephiles among us, as a film viewing experience, Begotten is a tough sit despite its short 72-minute runtime. While I can appreciate the filmmakers for having a unique and ambitious vision, the lack of dialogue, glacial pacing and repetitive and confusing style did result in its novelty wearing thin very quickly. And at 72 minutes, the film is simply too long, with its cryptic style and minimal plot making it better suited to being a short rather than a feature.
While it is a difficult watch, I can’t help but admire the overall style of Begotten. The visuals, shot in black and white and on grainy film stock, evoke classic Silent horror cinema, particularly those of the German Expressionist era, with much of the imagery looking like it could have been taken from Dr. Caligari or Nosferatu. Then there is an image of Mother Earth wandering through the woods, near what looks like a well, in an eerie shot that looks uncannily like what you would see on the cursed videotape from The Ring.
The imagery, particularly the opening image of “God” killing himself, is suitably gruesome, nightmarish, and weird, with it not being for the faint-hearted. However, it does entice you to stick around to see what other creepy treats the film has hidden within. The dark visuals also serve to make various still images of the film look like they could be album covers for a Goth or Metal band, with sections of the film even looking like they could double as music videos. The images of the robed Nomads dragging a rope did strike me as a bleaker, more horrific version of the video for Joy Divisions’ Atmosphere.
The sound design is minimalist, making repeated use of crickets, odd breathing sounds, water sloshing, howling winds and what sounds like a distorted ultrasound heartbeat. While repetitive, the sound design, in conjunction with the visuals, creates an uncomfortable atmosphere that suits the film’s unusual approach, with the violent imagery on screen often combined with the sounds of grotesque gurgling blood to create a viewing experience that confuses and disturbs in equal measure.
Begotten, while not entertaining in the slightest and likely to make even David Lynch go, “what the hell did I just watch” is still among the most fascinatingly weird films I’ve ever seen. I didn’t particularly enjoy watching it, but I can’t deny that I wasn’t entranced by its dark visual style, sinister sound design and overall strange atmosphere that envelopes every frame. It’s not a film I can easily recommend, but check it out if you’re curious and if you can find it.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★/ Movie: ★
Graeme Robertson
