I grew up watching this film. Over the years I have probably seen it upwards of 40-50 times and I have yet to grow tired of it. I can quote almost every line and it continuously makes me laugh. Something that my parents pointed out to me at a very young age, has always stuck with me, to this day, as one of the most interesting cinematic tools ever used in a movie. I am referring, of course, to the reflection of fire off of the warden's glasses.
The reason that this is so interesting to me is because the warden is associated with the character of the devil or (because this is an adaptation of The Odyssey) Hades. At one point in the film, Tommy is describing his meeting with the devil at the crossroads. He explains that the devil does not actually look as he is thought to (as Everett describes "red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork"), but is actually "white . . . with empty eyes and a big hollow voice [and travels around with a hound.]" This is very obviously associated a description of the warden as we saw him when the authorities burned down the barn that our protagonists were sleeping in.
I am going to focus on the scene where this tell-tale reflection happens for the second time. This scene begins with a crane shot, moving down from silhouettes of trees being illuminated by lightning, to a close-up range shot of a yelling jailer. The shot then changes to the medium range shot of the person who is whipping, who we soon find out to be Pete. The scene changes again to what would be best described as an over-the-shoulder shot to Pete being whipped with an out of focus, smiling torch carrier in the close background. Although this torch carrier is out of focus, his excited visage proves most intriguing for it subtly shows what can only be perceived as a worker of the devil, or a "demon." His obvious sadistic temperament towards the torturing of another human being shows Hades' corruption of others and strong discipleship (I'm not trying to send a theological message here, I'm just simply explain how I interpreted elements of this film. I just want to make sure that's clear).
After this, the scene changes to a different over-the-shoulder shot; this one over the shoulder of one of the officers and focused on Pete. Once again, we see the other officers in the background smiling, and now we hear them laughing as well. We begin to hear the Warden speak and Pete's look of pain from the whipping actually changes to one of terror, which is to be expected when coming face to face with the devil. This time the shot changes to what starts off with a long shot of the warden approaching the crowd, and as he walks closer and closer, eventually becomes a close-up shot. This is the shot when we see the fire reflected in the glasses. The reality of the character mirroring of the warden and the devil is really emphasized here when he begins to speak of God. He actually talks as if he himself is a follower of God and does his work. I just cannot downplay the cleverness of this shot. I honestly believe that whoever thought to do this, deserves an Oscar specifically for this idea.
Just because I do love it so much, I'll display the first time that this very important shot is exhibited in the film as well.
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