Jump to content

Begotten (film)

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Din of Celestial Birds)

Begotten
1995 VHS cover art
Directed byE. Elias Merhige
Written byE. Elias Merhige
Produced byE. Elias Merhige
Starring
  • Brian Salzberg
  • Donna Dempsey
  • Stephen Charles Barry
CinematographyE. Elias Merhige
Edited byNoëlle Penraat
Music byEvan Albam
Production
companies
Theatreofmaterial
William Markle Associates (sound)[1]
Distributed byWorld Artists Home Video
Release date
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish (intertitles)
Budget$33,000 (est.)

Begotten is a 1989 American experimental horror film[2] written and directed by E. Elias Merhige. It stars the largely unknown actors Brian Salsberg, Donna Dempsey, Stephen Charles Barry and members of Merhige's theatre company Theatreofmaterial. Its 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 originally conceived a dance piece for experimental theatre. Inspired by documentary footage of the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima, decided on a full-length film. Begotten has a gritty visual style, intended to give the impression of damaged film stock which had been degraded through time and wear. As with the Hiroshima footage, Begotten is silent. After completion, Merhige spent two years trying to find a distributor. It debuted at the Montreal World Film Festival and later screened at the San Francisco International Film Festival, with the film critics Tom Luddy and Peter Scarlet in attendance. The two brought it to the attention of the critic Susan Sontag, whose enthusiastic praise was instrumental to its eventual release. It was ignored by most mainstream critics and the few reviews were polarized.

Begotten is infused with multiple mystic and religious themes. Critics debated if it reflects popular attitudes towards the origins of life and religion at the time of its production and portrays creation through the mythic and religious traditions. Some writers have interpreted the film as an examination of the cycle of life and mankind's relationship with nature. Other themes include the Nietzschean view of order and chaos, societal norms and the perception of reality.

Although largely ignored by mainstream critics, it has since attained cult status and influenced several avant-garde film-makers, visual artists and musicians. The film's scarcity on home video prompted fans to circulate their own bootleg copies. Merhige directed two short film sequels: 2006's Din of Celestial Birds and 2022's Polia & Blastema: A Cosmic Opera.

Plot

[edit]

The film opens with a dilapidated shack, inside which a robed and masked figure disembowels himself with a straight razor. He dies after cutting open his abdomen and removing his internal organs. A woman in white emerges from his mutilated remains. She brings the corpse to arousal and uses his semen to impregnate herself. Time passes and the woman, now visibly pregnant, stands beside a coffin. She gives birth to a fully matured yet malformed man and abandons him in the wilderness.

After wandering across a barren landscape, he encounters a tribe of nomads who seize him by his umbilical cord. Upon being captured, he vomits part of his organs which the tribe accept as gifts. They lead him through a rocky hillside, stopping to torture and throw him into a fire pit, where he burns to death. He is resurrected by his mother who comforts him before they continue together across the desert. The nomads later appear and attack him as his mother stands nearby in a trance-like state.

The nomads knock her to the ground before sexually assaulting, murdering and committing sexual acts with her corpse while her son lies injured nearby. As the nomads leave, several large-robed figures arrive to carry her mutilated remains away. They travel to a gorge where they harvest mounds of clay into small jars. The robed men cut the mother's body into small pieces, crushing her bones and then placing them into the jars. With this act complete, they abduct and murder her son, repeating the same process and burying the jars into the crust of the earth. Over time, the burial site becomes lush with flowers and crops as a montage of photographs depicting the robed god is shown. In the final scene, the mother and son appear wandering through a forest as the cycle begins again.

Cast

[edit]
  • Brian Salzberg as God killing himself
An entity who commits suicide by mutilating and disembowelling himself. He is also the father of Mother Earth and Son of Earth.
The mother of the Son of Earth, whom she conceived by using the seed of God killing himself.
  • Stephen Charles Barry as Son of Earth (captioned as Flesh on Bone):
The deformed and convulsing son of Mother Earth and God killing himself.

Members of Merhige's theatre company Theatreofmaterial, including Adolpho Vargas, Arthur Streeter, Daniel Harkins, Erik Slavin, James Gandia, Michael Phillips and Terry Andersen, are credited as nomads and robed Figures.[1][3]

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

Begotten was written, produced and directed by Merhige,[4][5] who had studied at State University of New York, developing an interest in the theater after attending several performances while in Manhattan. According to Merhige, he was intrigued by the highly visualized form of storytelling, which provoked what he described as "an otherworldly response". He was particularly interested in the performances of the Japanese butoh dance troupe Sankai Juku,[6] who were known for blending grotesque imagery with a transgressive dance style.[7] Merhige was fascinated by the degree of interconnectivity among its core members—knowing everything about one another and engaging in a more personal level of interaction.[6] In 1985, Merhige founded Theatreofmaterial,[a][9] a small experimental theatre production company based in New York City, intending to create a similar group dynamic.[6][10]

Merhige conceived Begotten in 1983[b]and describing its genesis as "a vision that moved through me like a great storm".[14] It was developed into a story format after Merhige suffered an episode of sleep paralysis. The sensation of "feel[ing] like you are dying" and being unable to move provided Merhige with creative inspiration, and after the symptoms subsided he began writing[14] in an attempt to express his views and beliefs.[15][c] The project was originally written as a dance or theatre production,[18][19][20] with elements of opera and tragedy.[14] Merhige envisioned the production as an immersive experience, with the sets built around its audience and performed with a live orchestra.[14][18] After discovering that it would cost a quarter of a million dollars to produce, Merhige abandoned the idea.[18][19] Merhige later decided to implement the concept into a motion picture[18] after experimenting with his camera.[14] This change in format allowed Merhige the opportunity to document Theatreofmaterial's work, as many of its performers were transitioning outside the company to pursue other interests.[21]

Writing and pre-production

[edit]

The writing for Begotten was all Vision material, or whatever you want to call it, and I used those parts that scared me, or that I just couldn't understand—the parts that stuck with me for days and forced me to wonder where within me did this come from? A tableau of the unknown was important to me...It began as a personal myth and ended as a collective myth, a myth of everyone involved in making the film.[21]

Merhige on the script's collaborative nature

Merhige developed the script with members of Theatreofmaterial. They strove to evoke emotions which they felt were avoided by most directors and performers.[21] Merhige consulted with the television writer and film historian Tom Gunning on the storyline.[1][3][22] In preparation for scriptwriting, Merhige and members of Theatreofmaterial performed ritual breathing exercises. Merhige described this process as "breath[ing] to the point of hysteria". He brought portions of the work-in-progress script to rehearsals, which were followed by group discussion and reflection on the material as it took shape.[21]

As a painter and visual artist,[12][23] Merhige said that 19th century impressionist and symbolist painting were a primary source of influence, and had a profound impact on his crafting "a world that existed between painting and dreams".[13] In addition, earlier paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya further influenced the film's early developmental.[23] Merhige was further influenced by the artist Antonin Artaud and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, which felt had not been fully explored on film.[18][24]

The first draft was completed within six months.[18] The group expanded the script's abstract ideas into more concrete and enactable scenes over the following four and a half months, during a period of extensive rehearsals. Merhige said that the rehearsals were mainly focused on group cohesion rather than specific choreography, which allowed the actors to get "in tune" with their characters.[21] He strove to capture the tribal and ritual aspects associated with alchemy and hermeticism, and to that end he and the cast experimented with hypnosis and meditation.[25]

Begotten was made on a budget of around $33,000 ($79,000 inflation-adjusted[26]).[16] The film was partially funded by Merhige's grandfather, who had set Merhige up with a trust fund for medical school.[d] Additional costs were covered by Merhige from the income he received while working multiple jobs as a special effects artist.[18][27] Writing on the distinction of such independent projects, Matthew Edwards comments that by financing independently, filmmakers like Merhige were allowed more creative freedom when developing their ideas.[29]

Filming

[edit]

Principal photography began in the mid-to-late 1980s[18] and depending on the sources, lasted for between three and five-and-a-half months.[21] Merhige assumed multiple roles, including cinematography and special effects,[18][30][31] and used a 16 mm Arriflex camera on a Kodak Plus-X, a black-and-white reversal film stock.[10][18][32] Most of the film crew were Theatreofmaterial members, though some film industry professionals were involved, including the costume designer Celia Bryant,[33][34] and the special effects artist Dean Mercil.[35] Some of Merhige's family assisted with production, including his brother David Merhige, who is credited as the film's as field coordinator.[1][3]

Most of the scenes were shot at a construction site between New York City and New Jersey, where Merhige was permitted to shoot for twenty days when construction crews were not working. The construction crew occasionally assisted by building landscapes for the mountains.[2][18][19] The first scene to be filmed was the opening passage depicting God self-disembowelling and Mother Earth emerging from his remains.[27] The sequence where the Son of Earth drags himself across the desert was filmed with a long-focus lens over hot sand, which produced a mirage-like screen distortion.[36] Time-lapse photographs of sunrises and sunsets were shot by the director,[2] who spent two days in the mountains near Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Additional sequences of sprouting plants were filmed inside a large and specially built terrarium.[15][18] Merhige characterized the atmosphere during production as a powerful, almost ceremonial experience that was "life-changing" for those involved.[18][37] After filming wrapped up, Merhige found it difficult to move on from the project and felt a sense of mourning and the loss of an emotional high.[15][38]

Cinematic style

[edit]
A masked woman standing beside an upright coffin
The film's decayed aesthetic was achieved through extended processing using an optical printer. Each minute required eight to ten hours of labor to process.

Begotten is shot in a dark, grungy and visceral style. Distorted perspectives and degraded image quality were used to evoke an ancient and otherworldly atmosphere.[39][40] The film has been described as "a cinematic Rorschach test of grotesque, imagery" and "a feature-length fever dream".[41][42] Merhige was interested in crafting imagery through analog format[15] and sought a decayed look that the footage had been damaged through time and wear.[43] He said:

I wanted Begotten to look, not as if it were from the twenties, not even as if it were from the nineteenth century, but as if it were from the time of Christ, as if it were a cinematic Dead Sea Scroll that had been buried in the sands, a remnant of a culture with customs and rites that no longer apply to this culture, yet are somewhere underneath it, under the surface of what we call "reality."[44][45]

The influences for Begotten's visual style include The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Blood of the Beasts (1949), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes (1971).[46] He also lists the unconventional style Andrzej Munk, Sergei Eisenstein and Luis Buñuel.[4] Other influences identified by critics include David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977),[47] Dimitri Kirsanoff's Ménilmontant (1926) and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), as well as tribal art, ethnographic studies and the paintings of Piero della Francesca.[10] Visual underminings from 1930s horror films, such as intertitles, was also commented on by David Annwn Jones, who wrote that it was utilized to express its own set of evolving visual ideas and techniques.[48]

Before and during Begotten's shooting, Merhige experimented with different types of film. In one experiment, he ran an unexposed negative against sandpaper to scratch its surface before shooting on the damaged reel,[18] and in another Merhige modified the film emulsion and frame rate to create a staggered time and motion effect.[49] Footage was deliberately shot overexposed, to reduce the details of the image.[e] Unsatisfied with the results, Merhige decided on an optical printer for further processing.[15] He was unable to find an optical printer priced within his budget, so he built one himself. The printer was constructed in eight months[i] with spare parts from camera stores and special effects houses where he had worked.[18][27][50] Merhige had worked as a special effects designer for various companies, including a Disney television series that involved the animation technique of rotoscoping. This experience gave him the technical knowledge needed to handle the film's post-production and visual effects on his own.[12][18][27]

The post-production process was time-consuming, with each minute of footage generated by the optical printer taking between eight and ten hours to complete.[27][32][50] Each frame of raw footage was fed into the optical printer and projected onto an unused film negative; multiple photographic filters, including color and neutral-density filters, were used to alter the image.[51] Developing the Kodak Plus-X film stock presented a significant challenge. Unprocessed reels required a dust-free environment as the Kodak film stock is notorious for its fragility; each reel was handled with protective gloves to avoid unintended imperfections.[52] Three months of extensive tests were implemented during photographic processing.[53] When a test shot was sent to the laboratory for processing, minuscule calibration errors sometimes ruined the shot and the process had to be restarted.[27] Merhige asked that laboratories adjust their usual development procedures to his custom specifications, but was repeatedly turned away. Eventually, he found Fred Schrecka's Kin-O-Lux Labs.[f] Merhige began a friendship with Schreck who taught him to hand-develop his footage.[8]

Merhige hired his father for a number of scenes, stating that his father was "very open-minded" to the project.[54] Editor and film-maker Aram Avakian, whom Merhige had become acquainted with, also supported and encouraged Merhige to complete the project.[9] Results of the rephotography process removed almost all of the gray midtones from the visible spectrum, leaving only extreme contrasts of black and white.[15] He used similar techniques for segments of his next film, Shadow of the Vampire (2001).[55][56]

Music and sound design

[edit]

Begotten has no dialogue or text apart from its opening intertitles.[ii] Merhige chose to make the film silent after viewing documentary footage of the bombing of Hiroshima, having been emotionally affected by the complete silence and lack of voice of the victims.[59] Merhige recalled in 2024:

All of the victims had this look of complete calm and just calm astonishment as they looked millions of miles past the lens of the camera. I remember[ed] thinking that, when life becomes that extreme... that terrifying. When you see things that you can't unsee, and experience things that no one can relate to on the entire planet... you're really left with this spooky, terrifying silence.[59]

Intending to evoke a similar atmosphere to the Hiroshima footage,[59] Merhige developed the film as set "[in] a time that predates spoken language" in which "communication is made on a sensory level".[35][60] Frustration with storytelling through exposition and the limitations dialogue imposed upon narration also contributed to the lack of dialogue in Begotten.[61]

The film score and sound effects were written and mixed by the then novice composer Evan Albam. Merhige and Albam spent a year working on the soundtrack, crafting the right balance of visual and audio cues.[18] The music is ambient and dirge-like, and contains natural sounds such as bird calls, insect noises and heartbeats.[iii] Music in Begotten often mirrors the improvised and incomplete atmosphere of early silent films. The sound effects mixed into the score are often looped, differing from the normal synchronized sound. Writing for the academic journal Film International, the artist Ted Knighton argues that this "incomplete" feel to the sound touched upon the themes of creation. He wrote that Begotten is "not a film of an evolving world, it is [a] film as an evolving world".[49] Scholar Andrew M. Whelan writes, the ambient and unconventional score of Begotten shares the same thematic style as power electronics, a form of noise music, that provokes strong reactions from listeners.[63]

In 2016, Merhige began work on a remaster of the film for a limited-edition vinyl release set for 2017.[64] Later that year, former March Violets band member-turned-composer Tom Ashton announced that he was working with Merhige on an "audio reimagining" of the soundtrack. As of 2025 there have been no new updates on its outcome.[65]

Release

[edit]

Distribution

[edit]

Once editing for Begotten was completed, Merhige spent two years trying to find a distributor willing to release it.[18][19][66] Merhige screened the film to possible distributors but most refused as it did not fit into a specific genre and would be difficult to market.[67] He said that at first "everyone laughed at me, saying 'We don't know what this is...'"[68] Merhige took it to several museums; only two showed interest, but he turned both down as he felt that they were not the right choice. As a result, he became very protective of the film and only screened it to people he thought he could trust.[67]

To gain more exposure, Merhige created a video master of the film, sending copies to various film organizations, including the Pacific Film Archive. Merhige was contacted a month later by the curator of the archive, who requested permission to screen the film.[69] Through these private screenings, film critics Tom Luddy and Peter Scarlet became fascinated by its visual style.[10][70] Although uncertain how it might be received, they put together several screenings at the San Francisco International Film Festival followed by a showing for the critic Susan Sontag.[iv] Sontag held a private screening at her home[g] She became Begotten's leading advocate and was instrumental in setting up its eventual theatrical release.[18][19][20] Sontag took a copy to the Berlin International Film Festival in the early to mid – 1990s where she informally screened it to interested cinéastes.[18][73] During one of her screenings, it was viewed by director Werner Herzog, whom Merhige said was "very supportive of the film".[18][66]

Theatrical screenings

[edit]
The exterior of a cinema
The US premiere of Begotten occurred at the 1990 San Francisco International Film Festival, where it was screened at the Japantown Kabuki 8 multiplex (pictured in 2005).[74]

Begotten was unable to attain even limited theatrical release. However it gained popularity as an underground film via distribution outside of conventional commercial channels, especially with those who released subversive or transgressive content.[75][76] Lacking a standard theatrical release, Merhige booked one-off screenings at various film festivals and art museums.[77] The earliest screening took place on October 24, 1989 at the Goethe-Institut as part of the Montreal World Film Festival.[h][80][81][82] Strong reactions of those in attendance were reported, as The Gazette described a majority of the audience as "too stunned by what they'd seen to react".[83] After its debut at the 1990 San Francisco International Film Festival,[10][74] it was shown at the Museum of Modern Art,[v] on October 22 with Merhige introducing the film, followed by a post-screening discussion with the audience.[87] It was shown at multiple film festivals from 1991–1996,[89][90][91] these included special screenings at New York City's Film Forum,[vi] American Cinematheque,[93] and the Ann Arbor Film Festival.[94]

Since the mid-2010s, Begotten has appeared at multiple film festivals. The first took place in October 2014 at Brooklyn's Spectacle Theater as a part of its annual "Spectober" film event.[95] That same month, the independent arts venue Horse Hospital screened the film, accompanied by a live, improvised music score by band The Begotten.[96] Later, it appeared at the third annual horror film festival SpectreFest on October 28, 2015, which was followed by an onstage discussion with Merhige.[97][98] It was shown at the Music Box Theatre in Midtown Manhattan on September 25, 2016, during its 25th Anniversary celebration, where it was screened from Merhige's personal 16mm print. It was presented as a double-feature alongside the director's other film, Shadow of the Vampire, and followed by a Q&A with Merhige.[99] The film was later screened at the Short Film Festival in London on January 8, 2017, where it was shown again in its original 16mm format, accompanied by a live music score from the film.[100] It was screened on October 17, 2019, at the Rice Media Center, as part of a celebration of "Low-Fi" Analog film series.[101] It had its more recent screenings on March 29, 2022, at Cinemateca Portuguesa in Lisbon, on November 3rd at Goldsmiths, University of London and in 2023 at the L'Etrange Festival [fr].[102][103][104]

Home media and bootlegs

[edit]
Topside of a VHS tape
Begotten was released on VHS in 1995. The film is currently out of print, though widely bootlegged.

Begotten received a limited home media distribution after its theatrical release;[105] and as of 2025 copies of the film are out of print and difficult to find.[35] Merhig initially stated that he disliked the home video format. He changed his mind whenhe realised that the original soundtrack mix—which he was unhappy with— could be enhanced through home video.[46] The film was briefly released in 1995 on VHS[18][106] by World Artists Home Video,[vii] and was banned in Singapore due to its graphic content.[110] It was given a limited DVD release by World Artists on February 20, 2001,[111]. It included a souvenir booklet, the original theatrical trailer, rare and never-before-seen movie stills and production photos.[112][113] World Artists' release of the film was listed by Film Comment's Gavin Smith as the ninth of his "Top 10 DVD Picks".[114] However, Merhige has expressed his disappointment with this release, citing poor image resolution.[115]

Due to the film's scarcity, fans began to circulate copies via bootleg copies and later via digital piracy.[19][116] The copies helped the film to expand its availability and exposure.[117][118] The film is typically encountered via ambiguously legal methods, a situation which—according to Mathijs and Sexton—fostered a "copy-cult" that enhanced its cult status.[119] Over the years, Merhige has turned down several offers by film companies to distribute the film, citing cheap and inadequate restoration methods.[115]

Restoration attempts began in 2016. In July, Merhige announced a collaboration between the Pennsylvania-based CinemaArts on a 4K restoration to be released on Blu-ray in the fall of that year,[115][120] coinciding with a 25th-anniversary screening at Music Box Theatre in Manhattan.[71][99] Describing this restoration process as meticulous and pushing the digital and analog technology to its limits. However, Merhige states that he only intends to release the film once the restoration and upscaling is completed.[115] As of 2025, Begotten is still awaiting restoration and an upscaling from its original 16mm format.[121]

Reception

[edit]
A photo of Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag (pictured in 1979) was one of the main advocates for Begotten and helped ensure the film's release.

Begotten has received little to no attention from critics, with most mainstream reviewers ignoring the film entirely.[35] Merhige was initially fearful that audiences would misunderstand the film and said that he "felt sure it would be misunderstood and consigned to the underground again. I see it as a very serious, very beautiful work of art, but when it was first finished, I was always thinking, 'What if everybody just laughs? What if they don't see anything in it?' There is always that possibility."[67] Although critical reactions to the film were polarized, Merhige has said that he is grateful for the film helping to start his career.[122]

The few reviews it did attract were mixed to positive. Some critics praised the film's unique visual style and resonating themes, and remarked on its graphic violence.[123] In a positive review, Sontag described it as "a metaphysical splatter film"[61] and "one of the 10 most important films of modern times".[124][125] In a 1991 review, Joe Kane of the New York Daily News praised the film's minimalist soundtrack, cinematography and subversion of the traditional narrative structure.[42] Newsday's Jon Anderson awarded it his highest score of four stars, lauding what he felt was its deconstruction of the barriers of dream and reality, bestowing additional acclaim towards its exploration of the human condition through its unconventional style.[126] Marc Savlov from the Austin Chronicle called the film "Experimental, haunting, dreamlike, and intentionally confounding", further writing on the film's grainy visual imagery, horrific imagery as having an influence on the VHS sequences in The Ring series, and the works of Guy Maddin.[110] In their annual publication of The Video Movie Guide, the authors Mick Martin and Marsha Porter rated Begotten their highest score of four stars, praising its uniqueness, while commenting that viewers would either 'love or hate it'.[127]

Begotten's narrative and use of symbolism were highlighted by some critics. The Courier commented that the film "goes beyond convention" in its storytelling.[128] Jackson Hole News described the film as 'an accurate portrayal of the religious attitudes and ideas of the Dark Ages'.[129] Jonathan Rosenbaum at the Chicago Reader called it a "remarkable if extremely upsetting" film, applauding the originality of its visuals, but cautioned that its graphic violence was not for the squeamish or the faint of heart.[11] The Christian Science Monitor's, David Sterritt compared it favorably to Samuel Beckett's novel How It Is in regards to its symbolism and narrative structure. Sterritt also commented that the film's claustrophobic atmosphere and dark narrative were hard to stomach but equally entrancing overall.[130]

Although some critics wrote favorable about the film's visual imagery and narrative themes, others criticized the same elements, while also mentioning its brutal violence and long running time.[131] Awarding it two and a half out of four stars, John Kenneth Muir felt its narrative would be better suited to a short rather than feature film, despite what he described as its originality and powerful imagery.[131] Echoing this sentiment, the Polish journalist Bartłomiej Paszylk [pl] thought the first half was compelling and "genuinely frightening", but wrote that the narrative would have been better served with a much shorter length.[132] The film's graphic violence and imagery were criticized by Janet Maslin of The New York Times who described it as "too grotesque" to engage an audience, although she highlighted its unique narrative.[4]

Thematic analysis

[edit]

Allegory of perception

[edit]

Begotten incorporates concepts such as audience perception and how imagery is interpreted, which Merhige uses to challenge the viewer's interpretation of the film.[67][133] The cryptic nature of the film's visuals, as Knighton comments, entices viewers to decipher the story and meaning behind Begotten, while also rebuffing such attempts. Knighton further notes that its thematic elements, including the sound and visual aspects, function as an invitation for viewers to participate in narratively 'putting the pieces together'.[49] Carolyn L. Kane, a visual communication's professor at Toronto Metropolitan University,[134] suggests that the degraded image quality of Begotten echoes the works of German photographer Thomas Ruff and the use of image noise. As Kane writes, incorporating such image noise into the film also doubles as an allegory for the viewer's uncertainty, in what she describes as "the hermeneutic of the image".[135]

The narrative structure of Begotten is experimental, often defying the conventions of film narrative.[40][136][137] Scenes are portrayed in a highly visualized style, leaving viewers to interpret and engage with the film individually.[138][40] Academic William Verrone comments that the experimental storyline invites a more active viewing experience from its audience.[45] Though the narrative of the film subverts traditional storytelling, Merhige states that most viewers have interpreted the film in a way he intended.[138]

Cycle of life

[edit]

Begotten, like most of Merhige's films,[16] explores narrative motifs on the cycle of life and death.[viii] The word Begotten; a form of the verb beget, meaning to "bring forth",[141][142] references these themes;[40][78] Merhige himself has described the characters and events depicted in the film as metaphors for life and the struggle of mankind with itself and nature.[2] Likewise, scholars Penny Papageorgopoulou and Dimitris Charitos highlight the recurrent themes of life, death and rebirth as a metaphor of humanity's antagonistic relationship with nature.[140] Some writers note the connections between the film's depiction of life and death and the cycle of the Earth. John Kenneth Muir defines the mistreatment of the Son of Earth as a symbol to mankind's "painful" toil of the earth to plant crops and the allusion to bringing forth life through great suffering. According to Muir, depictions of life, death and renewal in Begotten are also symbolic motifs of the four seasons.[143]

Reality in Begotten is dominated by a cycle of life and death within a dying world.[ix] Its characters wander through a lifeless world of desolate landscapes under an atmosphere of cold indifference to their suffering.[40] Beginning with the disembowelment of a god-like being and the birth of Mother Earth, Paşcalău describes the sequence as "the cyclical nature of life, birth, and death".[40] Death and decay are the dominate force in Begotten. The Son of Earth's journey through the desert, according to Merhige, depicts a world that is dying and in need of renewal.[144] Death is portrayed in the film as crucial to the restoration of life;[40] god-like beings die or are killed, with their deaths bringing forth new life.[139] At the film's conclusion, life on Earth is renewed through the burial of Mother Earth and her son as flowers grow from their graves.[145][146]

Creation mythology and religious themes

[edit]
A depiction of Mother Earth, a goat and wolf breastfeeding human children (c. 1617)
A Roman painting of the Virgin Mary (c. 6th century or earlier)
In Begotten, the character Mother Earth is loosely based on the deity of the same name (left) and Mary, mother of Jesus (right).

A major theme and motif of Begotten is the thematization of creation myths within religion.[x] As Scott MacDonald states, the plot reflects many contemporary popular attitudes towards the origins of life and religion.[2] Merhige said that he deliberately crafted Begotten to appear as part of a mythology[18][21] and incorporated mythic and existential themes.[15][149] Since its release, critics have noted a multitude of mythic and religious motifs, including connections to Christianity, Celtic mythology, Druidism, Egyptian Mythology and Slavic paganism.[4][54][147]

The opening scenes allude to creation myths such as life reborn from the corpse or dismembered parts of a primordial being.[40][150][148] The death of God Killing Himself becomes a form of self-sacrifice as Mother Earth emerges from and impregnates herself with his remains, which Paşcalău notes as a form of divine origin and transcendance.[40] The art historian Herbert S. Lindenberger suggests that the film's narrative is a reworking of early writings on creation mythology published by social anthropologist and folklorist James George Frazer, who intended to shock his readers with what Lindenberger described as "the savagery of their ancestors".[151] As Verrone writes, the storyline was founded on ancient mythologies, recounting the birth of a divine entity and their subsequent suffering, describing the film's premise as "a cryptic passion play about Earth's birth and torture".[152] Marc Savlov echoed this statement and described the plot as an allegory for the death and rebirth of god.[110] Film Comment's Robert DiMatteo comments that a "God's eye" is applied to the film's human characters, with their movement and behavior comparable to insects; they move in "the way [that] ants move when they carry food up a hill".[10]

The main characters are mythic and religious archetypes.[153] Merhige has said that Mother Earth and Son of Earth are partially based on the virgin Mary and Jesus.[139][151] Some writers have noted similarities between Mother Earth and both the Slavic mother goddess and the universal personification of Mother Nature.[2][4] Christian motifs are also incorporated into the main characters.[xi] Lindenberger has described the motifs as symbolic mirrors to Christianity, with allusions to Mary and Christ and his resurrection.[139][151] According to Papageorgopoulou and Charitos, the main characters of Begotten are an amalgamation of Christian and Egyptian archetypes As they suggest, traits from the Egyptian gods Osiris, Isis and Horus are ingrained within the characters of God Killing Himself, Mother Earth and Son of Earth, respectively. Additional traits from the Christian concept of God were also listed.[154] Connections to the film and Christian and Egyptian beliefs, according to Papageorgopoulou and Charitos, are viewed through the graphic death of God Killing Himself and the impregnation of Mother Earth are mirrors to the Osiris myth, specifically the disembowelment of Osiris and his wife's impregnation.[140]

Paşcalău identified elements of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism within the film.[155] This is especially prevalent in recurrent motifs of death as the catalyst for the birth of new life; a symbol of the interconnected nature of all existence within the Hindu and Jain beliefs, specifically the concept of saṃsāra where all life is trapped in a cycle of reincarnation by karmic attachments.[155] Likewise, the divine suicide of God and the birth of new deities, as Paşcalău states, mirrors the Buddhist teachings on suffering and non-being.[40]

Mystic and occult motifs

[edit]

Motifs within the alchemical, gnostic and hermetic traditions permeate Begotten;[52] Mathijs and Sexton note that Merhige "makes perhaps the most serious attempt to visualize elements of Dionysian orgiastic cultism".[105] By the 1980s New Age beliefs and practices including alchemy, western esotericism and hermeticism had grown in prominence.[156][157] Merhige was a follower of these philosophies,[158] and described Begotten and its creation as an "alchemical process.. [made to] bypass intellectual interpretation".[52] The performances of the cast are ritualistic and symbolic,[40] a trait that Merhige imbued into the film's narrative.[25]

Writing on the spiritual aspects of the film, Papageorgopoulou and Charitos highlight the hermetic and gnostic traditions contained within Begotten. The character Son of Earth, they note, has characteristics of several religious and mystic figures, including the gnostic concept of the Ogdoad or "Begotten One".[159] Film historian Gary D. Rhodes comments that Begotten is the ultimate example of an alchemical film. However, he states that the film was "not cinema about alchemy, but alchemical cinema". The act of creating the film and manipulating the image, "through textural, visual, and photochemical means," according to Rhodes, mirrors the alchemical process of Chrysopoeia (transmutation). Merhige has described the creation of the film's visuals as "akin to alchemical investigation," where his vision for the film involved the distillation of the image into something raw and primal. Each test, according to Merhige, helped him to uncover the visual language for the film as something "elemental and almost otherworldly."[52]

The human condition

[edit]
A photo of Friedrich Nietzsche
Depictions of chaos and violence in Begotten have been compared to the Nietzchian views on tragedy.[24][160]

Some writers have described Begotten as a critique of societal norms and the human condition.[20][32] The depiction of violence, as one writer for Collider observes, is both a metaphor and reflection of humanity's treatment of itself and the world, claiming that "Merhige's story symbolizes what humanity could become, or rather what it always has been: a hateful, violent, and selfish society."[20] Similarly, the academic Cristian Paşcalău wrote that the film utilizes a symbolic narrative to explore the suffering, violence and transformation of humanity.[40]

Begotten enacts several theories described in Nietzsche's 1872 work The Birth of Tragedy. Merhige became aware of Nietzsche's work in his youth and was interested in the concept of tragedy being ingrained within all life.[24][160] The struggle between order and chaos, interpreted through the duality between Apollonian and Dionysian,[161] is interspersed throughout the film.[162] Humanity as a perpetrator of violence and destruction is also touched upon. According to the writer Jason Wood, the violence in the world of Begotten is the primary "source of horror and decay".[163] In Merhige's view, the world is both ordered and also "suspended in a massive amount of chaos". He said that humanity functions as both a species of order and chaos, having been a force that creates great beauty through innovation and chaos through the destruction of each other and the earth.[162]

Legacy

[edit]

Recognition

[edit]

Begotten had a significant impact on Merhige's career.[164][18][165] He was hired in the late 1990s by the singer Marilyn Manson to direct music videos for his eponymous band's songs "Antichrist Superstar" and "Cryptorchid", the latter utilizing imagery incorporated from Begotten.[xii] Manson was a huge admirer of Begotten,[8][19][132] and had the album's art designer P. R. Brown view the film while developing the album's cover art.[168] During pre-production, Manson contacted Merhige to ask if he was willing to direct the video for his song "Cryptorchid".[132] Manson has stated that Begotten was played on a loop during the entire recording for his album Antichrist Superstar.[68][169] A decade after Begotten's release, Merhige directed Shadow of the Vampire.[170] Nicolas Cage, the co-producer, advocated hiring Merhige to direct the project based on his positive impression of Begotten.[xiii]

In a 2021 retrospective, Fangoria writer Soham Gadre said that, while Begotten remains a cinematic outsider, it has gradually achieved more exposure and recognition.[92] Since the start of the 21st century, Begotten has gained more prominence through its availability online and various streaming platforms such as YouTube, helping it accumulate a wider audience.[19][20] Before its removal of graphic content, clips and photographs from the film began circulating on the blogging platform Tumblr and later on TikTok, exposing it to a new generation of fans.[19][176] It has gradually developed a cult following[xiv] and is described by some writers as the director's masterpiece.[35][122][179] It was listed in the 2011 book 100 Cult Films by the academic Ernest Mathijs and filmmaker Xavier Mendik[35] over Mendik's objections, who felt that its following was too small to merit inclusion. However, it was ultimately included, to Mathijs, the film's following represented "the real sectarian cult; it's a very small committed group of people. It's like a secret handshake that goes worldwide. If you've seen Begotten, you're in that cult."[180]

Though initially mixed in his response to the film, Muir has since described Begotten as "one of the most disturbing films ever made".[181] Industry professionals such as the writer and photographer Chris Marker, the actor Elijah Wood and the film editor Dennis Jakob have expressed their admiration for the film.[158][182][183] Natalia Keogan of Paste described the film as one of the best and the most unsettling avant-garde films.[19] In his 2014 book Disorders of Magnitude: A Survey of Dark Fantasy, the author Jason V. Brock wrote that Begotten was his seventh favorite work of radio, film, or television production.[184]

Several publications selected it as one of the most disturbing films of all time, including Highsnobiety (2016),[185] Entertainment Weekly (2017),[124] Screen Rant (2019),[186] NME (2023),[187] Similarly, Begotten has been ranked in several top film lists, including number four by Joblo.com (2012),[188] and Nylon (2017);[189] number twenty by GamesRadar+ in 2018;[190] and number twenty-three by Complex Magazine in 2021.[191] Publications such as Collider and MovieWeb have placed it in their top avant-garde/experimental films,[192][193] with the later describing it as an 'unforgettable experiment in horror'.[193] In 2024, MovieWeb included it in a list of "The 40 Scariest Movies of All Time".[194] Over the years, several sources have erroneously reported Time as placing Begotten in its top-ten list of either 1990 or 1991, but the film was not included in either year.[i]

Influence

[edit]

Begotten has influenced several avant-garde and experimental films and is cited as an inspiration by several artists.[92][136][186] Michael Pope's 2001 experimental film Neovoxer has been compared to Begotten as it contains a similar visual style and "impressionistic mythology".[179] According to Panos Cosmatos, the flashback sequences in Pope's 2010 film Beyond the Black Rainbow were directly inspired by Begotten. When interviewed by the critic Joshua Miller, Cosmatos said that he wanted the sequences to "have the look and feel of an artifact that was in the process of deterioration" and that Begotten's visual style was the perfect look for these sequences.[196] Kyle Turner from Mubi.com described Lina Rodriguez's 2015 experimental film Ville Marie as being very similar to Merhige's film in terms of cinematic style and use of reverse-exposure.[197] Eddie Alcazar's 2016 short film FUCKKKYOUUU was noted by the magazine Vice as possibly influenced by Merhige's film.[198] Jimmy Joe Roche's experimental short film, Skin of Man (2018), was also said to have been influenced by Begotten.[199]

Other films have been noted by critics as sharing some similarities to Begotten. Scenes in Can Evrenol's 2015 surrealist horror film Baskin were compared to Begotten.[200] James Quinn's 2017 experimental horror film Flesh of the Void was described by several critics as being similar to Merhige's film in style and narrative.[201] However, Quinn himself stated, in an interview with Nightmare on Film Street, that he felt his film did not fall into the same category.[202] Certain scenes from Blake Williams' 2018 avant-garde science fiction film Prototype were compared to Begotten by Glenn Kenny of The New York Times.[203]

The album cover for the Swedish heavy metal band Katatonia 1997 album Sounds of Decay contains a screenshot of Begotten. In an interview with webzine Chronicles of Chaos, band member Jonas Renkse recalled the idea behind the inclusion of the image came out during a conversation with a member of the record label Avantgarde Music.[204] The doom metal band Begotten derive their name from film.[205] In the promotional video for their 2001 song "Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels", the Swedish black metal band Silencer used clips from Begotten interspersed with original footage.[206] The American music artist Zola Jesus listed the film as a major inspiration for her 2017 music album Okovi, stating in an interview with ARTnews that during the development of the album, she played the film on loop to help with Okovi's audio and visual aesthetic.[207] For their experimental musical composition Frankenstein Bemshi! at the 2018 Rochester Fringe Festival, the performers Dave Esposito and G. E. Schwartz mixed portions of Begotten with the 1910 film Frankenstein, accompanied by live guitar music, electronic soundscapes, spoken narration and poetry added as text to the movie's image.[208]

Sequels

[edit]

Begotten was the first in a trilogy known as "The Begotten Cycle", the two sequels are short films written and directed by Merhige that further explore creation myths and mysticism.[xv] The first sequel Din of Celestial Birds combines the theories of the Big Bang and evolution;[35] The short premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 6, 2006, and was described by Merhige as a depiction of "creation in its simplest and purest form".[213]

Polia & Blastema: A Cosmic Opera (alternately titled Polia & Blastema: A Metaphysical Fable)[121][214] incorporates gnostic beliefs into the fantasy and science fiction genre and concludes the trilogy.[215] Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, it was a collaborative effort between Merhige, Wexler and the musician Gavin Gamboa.[215] The film premiered at the Opera Philadelphia's Opera on Film Festival on September 30, 2022.[216][217][218]

References

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Alternately worded as Theatre of Material.[8]
  2. ^ While a 1995 article by Jonathan Rosenbaum alternately lists the date as 1984;[11] Merhige, born in 1964,[12] states he first conceptualized Begotten at age nineteen.[13]
  3. ^ Critic Elaine Dutka argues that trauma from the director's near-fatal car accident early in his youth was an early influence.[16] Though Merhige has stated that the experience merely helped form his own ideas and views on life.[17]
  4. ^ A total of $20,000,[27][28] adjusted for inflation to $48,000 in 2024.[26]
  5. ^ Merhige said "I was overexposing things on purpose, knowing I would underexpose things later... Though I didn't know how I was going to underexpose them."[36] In a 2021 retrospective for Film International, Ted Knighton wrote that Merhige also increased the contrast of the film, rendering places and characters as "ghostly silhouettes and abstractions".[49]
  6. ^ No relation to famed German actor Max Schreck, the subject of Merhige's later film Shadow of the Vampire.[8]
  7. ^ Merhige later recalled that Sontag had contacted him about setting up these private screenings, which Merhige initially believed to be a prank call.[72]
  8. ^ Several media outlets have alternately reported the 1990 and 1991 film festival screenings as its first release.[4][78][79]
  9. ^ Some media outlets have claimed that Time listed Begotten among the best films of 1990.[8][15][195] Los Angeles Times and the film's DVD packaging claimed it had been listed in 1991.[16][112]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[18][19][27][50]
  2. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[40][49][57][58]
  3. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[23][42][45][62]
  4. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[8][19][70][71]
  5. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[82][84][85][86][87][88]
  6. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[19][42][85][86][92]
  7. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[62][107][108][109]
  8. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[8][10][25][40][139][140]
  9. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[32][36][40][139]
  10. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[4][20][49][54][147][148]
  11. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[4][54][139][147]
  12. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[92][166][167][168]
  13. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[18][19][31][171][56][172][173][174][175]
  14. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[16][19][177][178]
  15. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[104][209][210][211][212]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Merhige 1989.
  2. ^ a b c d e f MacDonald 1998, p. 290.
  3. ^ a b c Merhige 1990, pp. 3–4.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Maslin 1991.
  5. ^ Lentz 1994, p. 308.
  6. ^ a b c MacDonald 1998, p. 285.
  7. ^ Perron 2013, pp. 120–121.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Stephens 2000.
  9. ^ a b Merhige 1990, p. 5.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g DiMatteo 1991, p. 2.
  11. ^ a b Rosenbaum 1995.
  12. ^ a b c Hanson 2010, p. 188.
  13. ^ a b Lazic 2024, 11:14-12:40.
  14. ^ a b c d e Lazic 2024, 12:50-15:39.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Beahm 2013, p. 32.
  16. ^ a b c d e Dutka 2004a, p. 51.
  17. ^ Beahm 2016, 22:20-23:35.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Essman 2009.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Keogan 2021.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Gaherty 2025.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g MacDonald 1998, p. 286.
  22. ^ Verrone 2012, p. 91.
  23. ^ a b c Hart 1992, p. 39.
  24. ^ a b c Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, p. 201.
  25. ^ a b c Ferrier 2023.
  26. ^ a b Consumer Price Index 2024.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g h MacDonald 1998, p. 287.
  28. ^ Malcolm 1994, p. 43.
  29. ^ Edwards 2007, p. 20.
  30. ^ Quigley 2007, p. 325.
  31. ^ a b Sullivan 2001, p. 34.
  32. ^ a b c d Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, pp. 197–198.
  33. ^ Stockley 1999, p. 371.
  34. ^ Willis 2000, p. 160.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g Mathijs 2017, pp. 20–21.
  36. ^ a b c Lazic 2024, 19:56-24:00.
  37. ^ Beahm 2016, 47:25-47:35.
  38. ^ Beahm 2016, 47:35-49:15.
  39. ^ Verrone 2012, pp. 154–156.
  40. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Paşcalău 2023, pp. 171–175.
  41. ^ Beifuss 2001, p. 5.
  42. ^ a b c d Kane 1991, p. 39.
  43. ^ Seibold 2022.
  44. ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 288.
  45. ^ a b c Verrone 2012, p. 155.
  46. ^ a b MacDonald 1998, p. 292.
  47. ^ Snyder 2011.
  48. ^ Jones 2018, p. 138.
  49. ^ a b c d e f Knighton 2021.
  50. ^ a b c Hoberman 2003, p. 91.
  51. ^ Lazic 2024, 22:55-24:00.
  52. ^ a b c d Rhodes 2025.
  53. ^ Merhige 1990, p. 6.
  54. ^ a b c d MovieMaker 2007.
  55. ^ Kaufman 2001.
  56. ^ a b Atkinson 2000, p. 28.
  57. ^ Mathijs 2017, p. 20.
  58. ^ Corliss 1991, p. 69.
  59. ^ a b c Lazic 2024, 15:40-18:31.
  60. ^ Mathijs & Sexton 2011, p. 163.
  61. ^ a b Dutka 2004b, p. 67.
  62. ^ a b Hall 1995.
  63. ^ Whelan 2015, p. 71.
  64. ^ Beahm 2016, 59:07-1:01:05.
  65. ^ Ashton 2016.
  66. ^ a b Beahm 2016, 51:00-51:50.
  67. ^ a b c d MacDonald 1998, p. 291.
  68. ^ a b Beahm 2013, p. 33.
  69. ^ Beahm 2016, 51:50-53:15.
  70. ^ a b Beahm 2016, 53:15-55:00.
  71. ^ a b Nicolay 2016.
  72. ^ Beahm 2016, 55:00-55:45.
  73. ^ Simon 2001.
  74. ^ a b San Francisco Examiner 1990, pp. 20–21.
  75. ^ Hall 2004, p. 236.
  76. ^ Mathijs & Sexton 2011, pp. 162–163.
  77. ^ Zahedi 2001.
  78. ^ a b Geritz 2006.
  79. ^ Sterritt 2000, p. 35.
  80. ^ Griffin 1989a, p. 64.
  81. ^ Griffin 1989b, p. 16.
  82. ^ a b Uricchio 1994, p. 26.
  83. ^ Griffin 1989b, p. 82.
  84. ^ Dubner 1990, p. 158.
  85. ^ a b Hoberman 2003, p. 90.
  86. ^ a b Prince 2002, p. 437.
  87. ^ a b Museum of Modern Art 1990a, p. 1.
  88. ^ Museum of Modern Art 1990b, p. 4.
  89. ^ Bowman 1991, p. 41.
  90. ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 284.
  91. ^ LA Weekly 1996, p. 84.
  92. ^ a b c d Gadre 2021.
  93. ^ Thomas 1996, p. 75.
  94. ^ Potter 1995, p. 19.
  95. ^ Spectacle Theatre 2014.
  96. ^ Horse Hospital 2014.
  97. ^ Busch 2015.
  98. ^ Moore 2015.
  99. ^ a b DO312 2016.
  100. ^ MothClub 2017.
  101. ^ Rouner 2019.
  102. ^ Cinemateca Portuguesa 2022.
  103. ^ DMON 2022.
  104. ^ a b L'Etrange Festival 2023.
  105. ^ a b Mathijs & Sexton 2011, p. 140.
  106. ^ Bleiler 2003, p. 50.
  107. ^ Hartl 1995, p. 80.
  108. ^ Hart 1995, p. 80.
  109. ^ Cornell 1995, p. 85.
  110. ^ a b c Savlov 2009.
  111. ^ Beifuss 2001, p. 80.
  112. ^ a b World Artists 2001.
  113. ^ Henkel 2000.
  114. ^ Smith 2001, p. 78.
  115. ^ a b c d Beahm 2016, 1:01:08-1:07:10.
  116. ^ Mathijs & Sexton 2011, pp. 34–35, 140.
  117. ^ Mathijs 2017, p. 21.
  118. ^ Mathijs & Sexton 2011, p. 35.
  119. ^ Mathijs & Sexton 2011, pp. 35, 140.
  120. ^ Merhige 2016.
  121. ^ a b Filmskemutacije 2023.
  122. ^ a b Chaw 2015.
  123. ^ Turner Classic Movies 2006.
  124. ^ a b Heigl 2017.
  125. ^ Offscreen 2023.
  126. ^ Anderson 1991, pp. 63, 66.
  127. ^ Martin & Porter 1997, p. 79.
  128. ^ Parker 1999, p. 44.
  129. ^ Swift 1995, p. 74.
  130. ^ Sterritt 1990, p. 11.
  131. ^ a b Muir 2011, p. 142.
  132. ^ a b c Paszylk 2009, p. 191.
  133. ^ Verrone 2012, p. 156.
  134. ^ Toronto Metropolitan University 2025.
  135. ^ Kane 2019, p. 197.
  136. ^ a b Quintana 2023.
  137. ^ Verrone 2012, p. 55.
  138. ^ a b MacDonald 1998, pp. 288–290.
  139. ^ a b c d e f Merhige 1990, p. 9.
  140. ^ a b c Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, pp. 202–203.
  141. ^ Harper 2017.
  142. ^ Digitalis 2008, p. 4.
  143. ^ Muir 2011, p. 141.
  144. ^ Lazic 2024, 24:03-25:30.
  145. ^ Verrone 2012, p. 157.
  146. ^ Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, p. 205.
  147. ^ a b c Stephanou 2019, p. 79.
  148. ^ a b Lazic 2024, 29:50-31:04.
  149. ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 289.
  150. ^ Leonard & McClure 2003, pp. 32–33.
  151. ^ a b c Aldama & Lindenberger 2016, p. 165.
  152. ^ Verrone 2012, p. 154.
  153. ^ Digitalis 2008, p. 3.
  154. ^ Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, pp. 200–201.
  155. ^ a b Paşcalău 2023, pp. 162–165.
  156. ^ Hanegraaff 1997, p. 12.
  157. ^ Hanegraaff 2013, p. 43-44.
  158. ^ a b Riefe 2020.
  159. ^ Papageorgopoulou & Charitos 2023, p. 202.
  160. ^ a b Beahm 2016, 25:26-27:01.
  161. ^ Schrift 2006, pp. 187–196.
  162. ^ a b Lazic 2024, 31:05-33:45.
  163. ^ Wood 2002, p. 374.
  164. ^ Beahm 2016, 57:25-59:05.
  165. ^ Lazic 2024, 1:48-2:49.
  166. ^ Vari 2001, p. 43.
  167. ^ Preira 2011.
  168. ^ a b Bennett 2019.
  169. ^ Beckermann 2001, p. 185.
  170. ^ Tucker 2001, p. 103.
  171. ^ Sims 2001, p. 8.
  172. ^ Mottram 2014.
  173. ^ Massaccesi 2015, p. 113.
  174. ^ Garcia 2001, p. 109.
  175. ^ Potter 2023.
  176. ^ Ramos 2023.
  177. ^ Pendreigh 2000.
  178. ^ Newman 2002, p. 175.
  179. ^ a b James River Film Festival 2015.
  180. ^ Lederman 2011.
  181. ^ Muir 2023, p. 92.
  182. ^ Beahm 2016, 55:50-56:25;43:32-45:16.
  183. ^ Timpone 2019.
  184. ^ Brock 2014, p. 300.
  185. ^ Gibson 2016.
  186. ^ a b Wojnar 2019.
  187. ^ Bradshaw 2023.
  188. ^ Maidy 2012.
  189. ^ Manders 2017.
  190. ^ Houghton 2018.
  191. ^ Barone, Serafino & Pimentel 2018.
  192. ^ Graves 2023.
  193. ^ a b Furzan 2022.
  194. ^ MovieWeb 2024.
  195. ^ Paszylk 2009, p. 190.
  196. ^ Miller 2012.
  197. ^ Turner 2014.
  198. ^ Pangburn 2016.
  199. ^ Champs Elsees Film Festival 2019.
  200. ^ FilmStage 2016.
  201. ^ Romero 2018.
  202. ^ Derington 2017.
  203. ^ Kenny 2018.
  204. ^ Chronicles of Chaos 2001.
  205. ^ Breznikar 2022.
  206. ^ Garcia 2014.
  207. ^ Jesus 2016.
  208. ^ Lubitow 2018.
  209. ^ Martell 2023.
  210. ^ British Board of Film Classification 2023.
  211. ^ LIFF 2023.
  212. ^ Lazic 2024, 00:15-1:30.
  213. ^ Telluride 2022.
  214. ^ Goldbart 2023.
  215. ^ a b WRTI 2022.
  216. ^ Operaphilia 2023.
  217. ^ Brzoznowski 2023.
  218. ^ Waleson 2022.

Works cited

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Begotten_(film)&oldid=1304529412#Din_of_Celestial_Birds"