Out of the Ground, directed by Barrett Burgin, is the story of a husband and wife trying to create life and replenish the Earth. Set in a distant future, the Earth is ravaged by war and famine, becoming desolate and broken. Clay and his wife Terra are scientists working on a machine that could potentially bring back the dead and enrich the Earth simultaneously. With their daughter, Light, they live protected deep in a lush mountain forest. It soon becomes clear that Clay’s work on the machine may not be everything he’d hoped for.
Out of the Ground is an environmental and transhumanist retelling of the choice made in Eden from a Latter-day Saint view, between family and divinity. It is saturated in Edenic overtones and is rich with symbolic layers which rewards multiple viewings. In a world constantly driving us to create more and more, Out of the Ground is a good reminder that with the Earth we have already been given everything we need.
