Movie Review: Luz and the Flower of Evil (Colombian Folk Horror)
Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019)
Spanish Language with Subtitles
Directed by Juan Diego Escobar Alzate
Horror/Drama/Western; Not Rated but Mature Audiences Recommended
Trigger Warnings: A Violent Rape Scene, Misogyny/Violence Towards Women, Gaslighting, Child Abuse, Torture, Cults, Religion, Medical Trauma, Graphic Gore and Dismemberment, Death of an Animal, Gun Violence, Childbirth/Abortion, Infanticide... (Yeah...it's basically checked them all off)
I am a sucker for "folk horror" and "cult" themed fair, and this certainly takes the cake when it comes to satisfying those interests. It's haunting, poetic, and unsettling in all the right ways one might expect and desire a cult movie to be. It's also incredibly brutal and disturbing, and I was not ready for a lot of it -- my hope is that by including trigger warnings people will be even better prepared for the emotional distress this movie dishes out. It explores a lot of themes of religion, personal autonomy, female empowerment, traditional gender roles, etc. Honestly, there’s almost too much to try to uncover it all in a review, so I’ll just let you watch it to see how deftly it moves through difficult topics.
Beautiful cinematography reminiscent of late 60s/early 70s film aesthetic. The majority is shot during incredibly vivid daylight, reminiscent of blue-skies and sickeningly bright days in Midsommar, and the nights are dark and claustrophobic with only fire or the moon for light. The colors are lush, saturated, and full of pink and salmon and orange, and everything is so warm and lush. Scenes which take place at night only serve to show the vastness of the cosmos, and how small this little bubble of a village is. The scenes beneath the moon and stars, and the sprawling mountains and hills of the landscapes are utterly mystifying and captivating. Interior scenes are rich in sepia, gold, brown, and oranges and are almost inviting despite how uncomfortable the environment really is. The contrast of using deep, cold blues with the warm, gold and orange of fire is simply stunning -- The outside world is cold, vast but the inside is both like the fires of hell and yet at the same time the only "warmth" implied is the "approval" of El Señor. This has some of the most gorgeous scenes I've seen in a move in awhile. The use of music is a key element both to atmosphere and the plot itself, helping to highlight the loneliness and isolation of the village from the rest of the world or any modern amenities. It highlights the emotional impact of the storyline and leverages feelings of fear, heartbreak, anger, and sadness.
The characters are well-rounded and the cast is really spectacular! The heinous "El Señor" who leads this rural village is a horrifying character and utterly terrifying. All I wanted to do is hurl him off of a cliff! This man is pure evil and a master manipulator. I hate him with every fiber of my being. He is sick, unrelenting, and overbearing in the worst ways. Ugh, and I won't even with the poor child victim he brings to the village. I truly don't think I've rooted this hard in awhile for someone to get utterly crushed and decimated as I have with this chucklehead! Each of the three main women are emotional and multidimensional, but consistently crushed by their oppressor near to oblivion. Watching them try to find their power, find their place, and a way to cope and survive is distressing but also so captivating. Each new and passing traumatic moment and gaslighting attempt by their "leader" and "father" is more and more horrific. My heart broke into pieces with each passing moment. It is incredibly hard not to empathize with the emotional turmoil of these women, and their tears inspire your own, for sure. Life is so hard for them, and unjustly so. Ugh!
As beautiful as it is, this is not an easy watch, but despite its difficult scenes and content it's worth a viewing if you don't mind very slow burn folk horror. I venture to say that if you enjoyed “The Witch” or "The Other Lamb" or "Midsommar," as I surely did, then this one may be up your alley. It has the same vibe and never-ending onslaught of misery and terror, and the slow yet constant unraveling of mental stability. Although, I'm going to slap myself silly for picking SUCH a strong and difficult movie for my first of 2021, though, LOL. Whew! That was quite a lot.
