The Terminal is based on a true story of a man who lived in an airport for almost nine years. Hanks’ playful portrayal of the Christ figure is credible. Viktor is definitely an outsider since he speaks little if any English. His purpose for being in NYC, is to fulfill a promise he made to his father. He has impressive carpentry skills and befriends several outcasts, all employees at the terminal. Each of them becomes better for their relationship to Viktor, including a Mary Magdalene figure played by Katherine Zeta-Jones. There is a unique reference to Palm Sunday after Navorski saves the life of another foreigner in a compassionate scene, which completes Navorski’s new-found identity as “The Goat” (God). Viktor is finally “released” from the oppressive grip of the field commissioner (Stanley Tucci) by a Centurian-like figure, who gives Navorski his coat before he leaves the terminal to fulfill the promise to his father.

Starman is certainly a Christ-figure (to a point).

I really liked it – I’d say it’s well worth a watch. Like most Gibson films, it doesn’t really do subtlety and can be a bit cornball american in parts, but it has a pretty good cast – lots of Aussies actually (Worthington, Rachel Griffith etc).

You’re probably right re: the film more depicting a religious character, than a stealth messiah; I was thinking that after I posted above … Doss was vocally Christian and a conscientious objector as you say and apparently the film is pretty faithful to his story.

That said, there were (and are) many christians who had no problems with killing for their country, so Doss’s actions dramatically stood out as he effectively showed a different way to be human during a time of war, drawn directly from his conviction of living like Jesus. So I suppose he’d fit the messiah description, just not stealthily as he was overtly pointing to Jesus through his actions.

Someone mentioned that on Facebook. But to my shame (?) I have to admit I’ve never seen it.

I haven’t seen that one. My next post is about the depiction of religious characters on film. Doss was a Christian conscientious objector, wasn’t he? He might fit in that one more easily than as a stealth messiah.