When it comes to strange and unclassifiable movies, Begotten undoubtedly deserves a place of honor. A proposal far from any convention, that disturbs and fascinates equally. A version of Genesis with mutilations, unpleasant sex, and a tormented offspring, that tests the viewer's endurance and triggers tons of interpretations.

Begotten is a 1989 American experimental film written, produced, edited, shot, and directed by Edmund Elias Merhige. It stars Brian Salsberg, Donna Dempsy, Stephen Charles Barry, and members of Merhige's theatre company, Theatreofmaterial. The film contains no dialogue and employs a style similar in some ways to early silent films. Its enigmatic plot, drawn from elements of various creation myths, opens with the suicide of a godlike figure and the births of Mother Earth and the Son of Earth, who set out on a journey of death and rebirth through a barren landscape. According to art historian Scott MacDonald, the film's allegorical qualities and purposeful ambiguity invite multiple interpretations.