Explore religious imagery in The Mission and Cool Hand Luke. Who are the Christ figures in each film? What aspects of Jesus are highlighted in each film? What other aspects of Christianity are creatively imagined on screen? Religious imagery in cinema is a recurring theme across genres and eras. Many directors draw inspiration from ancient stories that endure in religion, partly because of their resonance among large groups of religious followers and partly because of the close connection to themes of the nature of humanity. The Mission and Cool Hand Luke are two films with particularly strong images that evoke stories of Christ and the Christian Bible. Screenwriters incorporate these stories to add depth to the protagonists and directors visualize religious imagery to add depth to the shots. Various examples of religious imagery and depictions of Christ can be found in these two films, and this article will share and analyze these examples. The Mission takes place in the 1750s in what is now the nation of Brazil. The setting is shared between the city in which the Portuguese, Spanish and Vatican emissaries are running and the distant mission led by the Jesuit Order. The film takes place in the aftermath of the Treaty of Madrid of 1750 which redrew the borders of the territories held by Spain and Portugal. The treaty was negotiated by the Catholic Church, and the film's papal emissary is the Church's representative in binational conflicts. The violence depicted at the end of the film is part of the Guarani War of 1756 in which seven Jesuit missions resisted the encroachment of the Portuguese army. The religious imagery begins with the opening scenes of The Mission. While Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) does his...... middle of paper ...... Christ plays well in films that deal with redemption, salvation and forgiveness. In The Mission, Rodrigo seeks forgiveness after killing his brother and the Father. Gabriel is there to offer him the chance to find him. In Cool Hand Luke, Luke must atone for his actions by going to prison where he finds other flawed men paying their debt to society, giving Luke the chance to ease the suffering and shoulder some of the burden of his neighbor. men. The image of Christ as a compassionate redeemer fits these stories well. It also works well for audiences whose own thoughts about sin and punishment are enhanced by the tangible representation of God's forgiveness through the people around us. We seek our own salvation and forgiveness in the movies and Father Gabriel and Lucas Jackson each bring us one step closer to discovering what we seek..