Visual Cue - The Crucifixion of Christ

(My visual cue is from a church video that I saw in Sunday school. Sadly, I couldn't find the video on the church's website, so these photos will have to suffice. Sorry!!) The visual cue that came to my mind was from a church film about the atonement and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the scene, the Savior has just been judged by Pilate and is being taken to a courtyard to be scourged. The camera shows the soldier tying Christ up in preparation to scourge him, then cuts to an image of a horse that we assume is standing nearby.  You hear the lash of the whip and see the horse jump, its muscles tensing and rippling, but you don't actually see the Savior being struck.  The camera returns to the image of the soldier swinging the whip, and then cuts back to the horse just in time to see the horse jump in fright again.  Although we don't actually see the Savior being whipped, we associate the image of the soldier and the flinching of the horse with the pain that the Savior is feeling as He is scourged. We associate the horse with Christ and how His body and muscles are likely bunching in agony just as the horse's muscles twitch in fear.  

The alternating shots of the soldier, the whip, and the horse all create a visual cue that helps us understand what is going on without actually seeing the scourging itself.  By showing the horse rather than the Savior, the scene seems to suggest that the agony or violence of the ordeal is too great to be shown; however, these images are still able to convey the intense, physical nature of the scene with great power.  Personally, I can't watch scenes that are too gory/violent so I thought that a scene like this would be easier to watch than seeing the actual scourging itself.  However, this visual cue (combined with the sound) was so effective and powerful that I still found myself cringing and wincing as I watched.  It forced my mind to make the connection between the images I was seeing and the actual event that I knew was going on - the scourging of Christ.  This mental participation made me interact with the film rather than passively watch.  This mental interaction also made me more invested in the scene and even more sympathetic to the suffering of the Savior.