begotten Susan Sontag called it "one of the 10 most important films of modern times"

begotten03, originally uploaded by parallel entity.

The film opens with a robed, profusely bleeding "God" disemboweling himself, with the act ultimately ending in his death. A woman, Mother Earth, emerges from his remains, arouses the body, and impregnates herself with his semen. Becoming pregnant, she wanders off into a vast and barren landscape. The pregnancy manifests in a fully grown convulsing man whom she leaves to his own devices.

The "Son of Earth" meets a group of faceless nomads who seize him with what is either a very long umbilical cord or a rope. The Son of Earth vomits organic pieces, and the nomads excitedly accept these as gifts. The nomads finally bring the man to a fire and burn him.

"Mother Earth" encounters the resurrected man and comforts him. She seizes the man with a similar umbilical cord. The nomads appear and proceed to rape her. Son of Earth is left to mourn over the lifeless body. A group of characters appears, carry her off and dismember her, later returning for Son of Earth. After he, too, is dismembered, the group buries the remains, planting the parts into the crust of the earth. The burial site becomes lush with flowers. In a final coda, "Mother Earth" and "Son of Earth" are shown again, this time wandering away through a forest.

While the movie is not easily approached—lacking both dialogue and discernible cultural symbols—it does contain references to various religious and pagan myths. Christian elements are present in the impregnation of Mother Earth by God, akin to the impregnation of Mary by the Holy Spirit. The same myth is partly present in ancient Egyptian mythology, where Isis impregnates herself with the penis of the killed god Osiris and gives birth to Horus.
[edit] Critical Reception

The critical reception of Begotten was very positive. It holds a rating of 67% at Rotten Tomatoes[2] . Phil Hall of Wired.Com says: "Few motion pictures have the power to jolt an audience with the fury, imagination, and artistic violence of Begotten[3] Susan Sontag called it "one of the 10 most important films of modern times"