The movie Cool Hand Like tells a legend about the prisoner Luke from the American South acted by Paul Newman. The movie begins when Luke breaks off the heads of a parking meter and got arrested for destroying public property while being drunk. As a punishment, Luke was sent to prison to work in a chain gang. In Cool Hand Luke, there are many religious symbols.
The first religious symbol shown is Jesus. Luke symbolizes Jesus. Luke’s unbreakable spirit and determination makes the other prisoners look up to him and idolize him. In comparison, Jesus was very religious and believed in faith, peace, and nonviolence. Jesus made his disciples believe in him and his teachings of Christianity. In addition, Luke made a bet that he could eat fifty eggs in an hour. At last, he ate all the eggs and Luke was lying down in a cross position with a grin on his face and Jesus was in the same position when he was crucified Luke was caught from his attempt to escaping the prison and the other prisoners were surprised with his experiences outside their world. Luke says to them “Stop feeding off me!” which is an indication to the followers of Jesus Christ.
After Luke’s mother dies, Luke sings Plastic Jesus, which shows the similarity with Jesus. The lines “I don’t care if its dark or scary. Long as I have magnetic Mary Ridin’ on the dashboard of my car I feel I’m protected amply.” Therefore, these lines show faith and protection. The captain symbolizes higher authority such as god because he knows what is best for the prisoners just like Jesus knew the best for his people. Some of Luke’s initial prisoner friends believed in him because they liked his spirit. After Luke broke down and begged for mercy, they no longer looked up to him. This is symbolic to Jesus Christ who had devoted followers and those that later did not believe in him. Jesus says that one of his followers Judas would betray him, in the same way how Dragline betrays Luke at the church by making a deal...