 Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Year Of Release: 1967
Plot: After being caught cutting the tops off parking meters, Luke is convicted and sent to a Florida prison camp for two years. Once there it becomes clear he won’t conform to the system and intends to live life on his own terms. While this initially causes disquiet in amongst the hierarchy of inmates, they soon come to respect him. Then, after his mother dies, Luke escapes, get caught and then escapes again. The authorities are determined to break him, but Luke just wants to do things his own way. |
Ever since Cool Hand Luke was released in 1967, people have talked about its ‘Messianic symbolism’, which is where a character is given at least some of the attributes of Jesus. That may sound odd for a film about a convicted criminal who’s been sent to prison, but it’s been argued many times.
It’s said that Luke represents a modern-day, Christ-like figure who ministers to a group of disciples and refuses to give up under oppression. His example becomes a rallying point for others to become better people, because his simple mission not to submit to an unjust system exposes the corruption and hypocrisy it rests on. The authorities need to break him not because he’s wrong, but because he threatens to disrupt a system that’s rotten but which allows them to retain power. Eventually his life is under threat because of his stance, but the lessons others have learned from him are already spreading.
Interestingly though, some have looked at it from the other side and said that actually he’s Satan, or at least Lucifer, but more in the Paradise Lost mould than an all-out evil-doer. For a start they’ve got similar names, and in Cool Hand Luke the main character is punished for an act of rebelliousness, with the problem being that while authorities keep trying to control him, he wants to be free to do as he likes, which is similar to Lucifer and God in Paradise Lost. In the counterculture times of the 60s, it’s easily possible that Luke is supposed to be a Milton-esque misunderstood Lucifer rather than an all-hallowed Christ, and as the film is laden with religious imagery, it does seem to be this the filmmakers are getting at.
A similar argument has been made for McMurphy being a Lucifer clone in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, which isn’t surprising as it’s a fairly similar tale to Cool Hand Luke, with a rebel who won’t submit to an arbitrary and unjust system that’s designed to eradicate personal freedom. Or how about Anakin Skywalker, where some see his story as being about what would have happened if Jesus had failed (at least initially), so that rather than going the Jesus route and being all nice and benevolent, he gives in to temptation from the Devil (the Emperor) and turns evil. There does seem to be some logic for this, from Anakin’s virgin birth through to the choice he must make between the worldly (his love for Padme) and his destiny as a Force-powered saviour who can prevent the galaxy falling under the sway of an evil empire. He also has a symbolic death and rebirth, but becomes the evil Darth Vader rather than a force for good.
However these aren’t the only film characters that people have, perhaps unexpectedly, compared to Jesus. For example there’s John Coffey in The Green Mile, which follows the Cool Hand Luke model of putting the Jesus figure (although in this case an idiot Jesus figure) in prison. Here the parallels are clearer. For a start the Coffey’s initials are JC, he has healing powers and gets locked up and executed for a crime he didn’t commit. Despite being retarded, his attitudes and simple beliefs change the people around him. Stephen King himself has said that he was trying to tell a symbolic Christ-story with the book the movie is based on.
As with John Coffey, there are some who’ve argued that the fact that in the Terminator series, John Connor’s initials are JC is not a coincidence, and that James Cameron deliberately drew parallels to the gospels, whether with Connor’s miraculous birth (fathered by a man from the future) or his future as the saviour of mankind, who must defeat an inhuman evil determined to claim the world for its own. Likewise, there are those who see Avatar in a similar way, with Jake Sully as a sort of Messiah for the Na’Vi (which seems to be true, because there’s all that stuff about prophecies and the magic trees liking him). Here though direct parallels with Jesus are less clear, with the story following a more generic hero myth, merged with long-standing symbolism of a man coming from another place to save a people in peril.
Or there’s Neo in The Matrix, who’s quite literally a messiah figure, as it’s believed he is ‘the one’ who can take on the machines and usher in a new age for humanity. The Christ parallels are particularly clear towards the end of the first film, when Neo gains the powers he needs to complete his mission after dying and coming back to life – within the Matrix he literally becomes like a god. While the Matrix movies take in ideas from all sorts of faiths and philosophies, the idea of Neo as a Christ-like figure runs through all them, ending with him submitting to death in order save mankind. He’s certainly not the only sci-fi Christ figure, as many have said similar things about Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, who comes to Earth with a message for humanity to repent and change its ways, or face destruction.
Others have seen Braveheart as Mel Gibson’s pre-Passion Of The Christ attempt to deal with the story of Jesus, through a tale about a man who stands up for his beliefs against the authorities, but is tortured and then killed while never giving up of his ideal of freedom.
And while they had the Messianic parallels long before they hit the big screen, the likes of Superman and the Narnia stories have also been compared to the life of Christ. The latter is the most obvious, with C.S. Lewis even saying that’s what he was doing with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan is Narnia’s version of Jesus, who comes back to the country to fight wickedness, is tortured and killed by the evil-doers, but then rises from the dead and in doing so brings about an era of goodness.
Superman is more contentious as to whether it was deliberate or not, but the argument is that it’s not an accident that Jor-el sending his only son (who becomes Clark Kent) to Earth is similar to God sending his son, Jesus. Superman has incredible abilities and fights for goodness against the bad guys. In Superman Returns the message becomes fairly clear, with Jor-el saying "They can be a great people, Kal-El, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son." To add to the idea that the creators of Superman knew what they were doing, the suffix –el, which the Kryptonian characters have, means ‘of God’ in Hebrew (which is why the names of most angels end with ‘el’).
However the one I find most strange and intriguing is that many have said that ET is basically Jesus with aliens, and that the film contains a strong Christian message. Although Steven Spielberg has said it was never his intention to draw any parallels (which isn’t surprising as he’s Jewish), once you start looking at it there are definitely similarities. ET comes from another place and ends up on Earth. He has super-human abilities, including the ability to heal others, and can connect to people (in this case Elliot) on a deep spiritual level if they allow him to, literally becoming part of their lives. He has a glowing heart, which is a symbol of the Virgin Mary, and teaches those around him to be better people. However the authorities misunderstand him and come to take him away. He then dies, rises from the dead, and shortly afterwards ascends into the heavens (in a spaceship).
With some of these movies, the Christ parallels seem to be deliberate, while in other cases they could just be purely coincidental. For example, the idea of a hero/god who dies and then comes back to life has been a powerful symbol in many cultures for thousands of year, and so the use of it doesn’t always have to mean the character is meant to be Jesus. Likewise, the idea of sacrifice is one of most compelling in storytelling, which is why a lot of stories end up with somebody giving up their life for their beliefs.
That said, there are definitely a lot of unexpected Jesuses in the movies, and they turn up in places you’d never expect, or at least that’s what a lot of people have argued over the years. Personally, while I think some, such as The Matrix and Green Mile are deliberate, others I’ll reserve judgement on, as it does sometimes seem people want to see Jesus in places where it’s more hope than reality. However the Jesus argument has been made for all the films above, as well as many more, including Mad Max and even Mr Spock in Star Trek after he comes back to life in Star Trek III.
Is ET really Jesus but shorter and more wrinkly? I don’t know, but it’s certainly interesting to speculate.
TIM ISAAC
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