So I've been on a sort of Cracked. Com and related sites binge all last week and this, and I stumbled upon this particular film list under one of the weirdest films ever made.
It's called Begotten, and damn is really and truly weird.
Created, written, and filmed by filmmaker E. Elias Merhige in 1990, Begotten is a film that re-imagines the Christian creation story from Genesis in the bible, and in a very, very dark way.
Basically "God" kills himself in the one of the most brutal ways possible; by using a straight razor to slowly and very painfully cut and carve himself up.
For some reason not specifically stated in the film, he does this to be reborn.
Yeah, weird. And the weirdness doesn't stop there.
Nope, it gets weirder once "God" is dead.
A woman emerges from God's mutilated corpse, a woman that has been described as being Mother Earth.
Got me so far? Good.
Now this is where it gets fucked up. Mother Earth takes what's left of God's penis, and somehow uses his God-like potent baby juice to impregnate herself.
Yeah, I told it gets weird.
Mother Earth takes off, and after the obligatory 9-month pregnancy period, gives birth to a son.
He's called "Son Of Earth."
So for those of you who hate or dislike your name, count yourself lucky you weren't named "Son Of Earth."
Mother Earth leaves takes off and leaves her son on his own, because, well, I don't know, reasons.
He's later confronted by a tribe of faceless nomads, who, you know what?
Just read the synopsis on the movie from its Wikipedia entry:
The story opens with a disfigured man bleeding uncontrollably and beginning to scar himself in flames. A robed, profusely bleeding "God" disemboweling itself, with the act ultimately ending in its death. A woman, Mother Earth, emerges from its remains, arouses the body, and impregnates herself with its 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 appear, 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. Grainy photographs of God Killing Himself are shown towards the end of the film.
So yeah, this movie is really and truly fucking weird.
If you're interested in watching this out morbid curiosity like me, here's the YouTube link:
It's over an hour long, and depending on how you feel about it, it'll either be over an hour of time you just lost, or kinda, sorta worth it from a historical(?) perspective.
Personally, I'll say the effects on the film are pretty cool. Basically Merihage shot then exposed the film to sunlight, tampering heavily with the negatives, in a process that took a little over 10 hours to do. And that;s just with a single frame of film. Now that's some dedication right there.
Otherwise, it's, I don't know. On one hand, I can see what he was trying to accomplish, especially with dialogue, so as to present a piece of unobstructed art, but damn, the definition of art is already a tricky one, depending on the person's interpretation.
I guess its supposed to be a horror art film, but other than the post-production methods, I'm not really seeing any historical value or context, even in the loosest sense.
Again, I'll leave it up to any of you curious and courageous readers to see for yourselves what you make of the whole thing.
Onto Swag news, yesterday, in the immortal words of rapper Ice Cube, "Was A Good Day."
Why? Because I super-lucked out and got these:
This is the Target exclusive ML 3-pack featuring a newer Ultron figure(probably the one from the 2010 Age of Ultron event) a newer and bigger Hulk figure( most likely the Marvel Now version minus the armor), and the white, reassembled Vision from the John Byrne-penned WCA days.
I originally was going to buy Spider-Girl and UU Spider-Woman from the ML Hobgoblin wave, but passed, figuring I might find something better at the Toys R Us across the street.
I did in way, finding this:
The Batman '66 Batman figure, complete with Bat-Computer and other accessories, including 4 cans of Bat-Repellent and a swap-able Adam West Bruce Wayne head.
Hell's yeah. And all for only 35$. Not bad actually. And shit, I didn't even know they made this box-set.
After hitting up a nearby Barnes and Noble, where I bought this:
Yup, the Untold story of Marvel Comics, by noted writer and columnist Sean Howe.
I remembered this book from when it was reviewed at Comic Book Resources.com, so I figured I'd flip through it.
It looks really, good with plenty of juicy back-story tidbits to keep you interested.
I'm a big history buff, so this was right up my alley, and its not a super-dense read either. It's only about 428 pages of story.
I'll give you gives my thoughts of it as soon as I'm done.
Anyhoo, I was going back to Target to pick up the Spider-Girls, when I happened to see that big 3-pack box-set.
Now I'm playing catch-up back in town, having just recently bought the Spider-Man 2099 figure in the wave.
Can't find the girls, so it looks like Amazon to the rescue again.
No comments:
Post a Comment