The movie was beautifully shot with very little extra lighting and virtually no music. The entire movie focussed on the relationships between Walt and the few people he encountered.

The parallels to Jesus in the final scene (juxtapositioned against Walts decidedly un-Christian character in the rest of the movies) was absolutely intended.

For me the movie was about the tension and ambiguity that occurs in our lives between our words and our actions. Walt’s words – and hence his image in the eyes of others – is rooted in the persona of a middle-american good o’l boy who is racially intollerant and scarred by experiences of the Korean war. He is overtly racist and prejudicial. It is equally apparent that he lives in a culture (of men particularly) that knows little else. However, despite their words of hatred, their actions are more consistent with acceptance (possibly love?).

So, despite is apparent (verbal) hatred towards his Hmong neighbours, he is won-over by their continued actions of love and peace towards him. In the end, although he never understand them, he accepts them.

Additionally, the disinterest of his own children and the poverty in his relationships with them means that he finds relationship and love with his neighbours who are materially poor but rich in love and family.

In the end it is what is done, rather than what is said that holds real power. Walt creates a situation in which he exposes the evil of the street-thugs to the observers by merely seeking a ‘light’. It is the light of truth that exposes

Walt he sacrifices himself for an entire community of people he never really liked or understood – but he understood that they were being terrorized by evil. His words never conformed to what was right, but his actions were very different.

I think this movie was about the interplay of words and actions and the complexity of human experience. Walt was never particularly drawn to the words of the church, but he absolutely embodied the spirit of what Jesus stood for at his core.