In Juan Diego Escobar Alzate’s feature debut, Luz: The Flower of Evil, there’s a focus on man corrupting nature and corrupting everything he touches. This man is a preacher called El Señor (Conrado Osorio) who leads a small commune in the mountains. One day, he brings back a child he calls Jesús (Johan Camacho) who will be the new Messiah. Coinciding with this, his “daughters” Uma (Yuri Vargas), Zion (Sharon Guzman) and Laila (Andrea Esquivel), who is his only birth daughter, are coming-of-age and begin to challenge his teachings. This aspect of the film challenging him is fascinating, especially when Laila finds a music player in the woods and El Señor claims that this is “the devil’s music.” There’s a lovely discussion by the three “sisters” as they discuss what she found and discuss a music box given to them by their mother, the titular Luz. Luz’s presence is felt throughout the film, as some members of the commune believe her death has brought bad luck to the small commune as the tree where El Señor buried her has not yet bloomed.
