THE DARKNESS WITHIN LA LUZ DEL MUNDO

Mexico, 2023, 113 minutes, Colour.

Directed by Carlos Perez Osorio.

A powerful documentary from Mexico – with a story which will be well-known in Mexico and in Central and Latin America but less well-known in the English-speaking world although its culminating trials took place in Los Angeles.

La Luz del Mundo is an evangelical church which was founded in Mexico in 1926 and soon developed, spread, became powerful and wealthy by the end of the 20^th century, and was established in many countries throughout the world, even with a branch in Sydney.

Audiences familiar with the development of evangelical churches in the 20^th century in the south of the United States, will be interested in the similarities with Mexico. Audiences wary of the leadership of this kind of church, the possibilities for cult leadership and indoctrination, the possibilities for exploitation by the leaders, will find this film even more interesting. Audiences with a variety of attitudes towards the tele-evangelists, their methods, their preaching, their money collection, their affluent lifestyles, will also be eager to watch this story.

In its almost 100 years history, the church has had only three leaders, Aarón (Eusebio) Joaquín González, Samuel Joaquín Flores, and Naasón Joaquín García. There are some flashbacks and photo visual material on the founder, but the first part of the film focuses on his son, Samuel, and his leadership of the church and its extraordinary growth, visuals of the disciples, their intense faith, the enthusiasm, their belief in the leader as “the Apostle of Jesus Christ”. Samuel died in the 1990s and the leadership was assumed, a process of religious discernment decided that he was also The Apostle, by Naason, who, to all appearances, did not look as if  fulfhe could fulfil the requirements of this kind of leadership.

So, this documentary takes its place as a portrayal of a religious group, Christian aspects, clashes with the Catholic Church and leaders in Mexico, a building program, a communal program, and thousands of avid and devoted disciples, old and young, men and women.

However, it is also a story of cult leaders and sexual exploitation. For audiences who are connected in any way to organisations whose leaders and members have been arrested, tried and condemned for sexual abuse, especially of minors, this is an important film because it is looking, from their point of view, very objectively at abuses, at offenders, at victims, at survivors, listening to their testimony.

Eventually, a number of women were prepared to speak openly about their sexual experiences, especially young women, young teenagers, who were chosen by the leaders, especially Samuel and then his son, with the aid of female members who were the equivalents of pimps, grooming these young women, leading them into sexual behaviour, the loss of their virginity, the bewilderment of their experiences.

As always, it is very moving to listen to these testimonies and the saddest of memories, of abusive and destructive experiences.

There is a great deal of information and visuals about Naason, he is arrested, in the United States, on trial in Los Angeles. This documentary covers the various trials, his pleas, denials, compromises, imprisonment, deals, right up to decisions by the end of 2022, the judge listening, sentencing, but bound by limitations for which he apologises, especially to survivors, making the documentary very up-to-date at the time of its release to Netflix.

Clearly, this kind of story, this factual documentary, often stark and direct, can be very disturbing viewing. With this caution, it is a documentary that should be seen widely, contributing a Latin American perspective, unfamiliar to many audiences, to the exposure of organisational sexual abuse, especially in the latter part of the 20^th century and into the 21^st-century.