Cool Hand Luke Movie Critique: Courage And Self-Respect

Cool Hand Luke directed by the reputable Stuart Rosenberg and nominated for four Oscars is a tragic tale of an ordinary individual rising up the courage to oppose the establishment, thus becoming a hero. Cool Hand Luke weaves a rich tapestry of the prison life on both sides of the establishment and the injustices of the system. In short Cool Hand Luke is a movie that focuses on the struggles of a single courageous man and his quest for freedom. After being incarcerated for a petty crime and sent to a chain-gang jail, Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) has risen up the ranks of the establishment and become the prisoners’ idol as well as the guard’s enemy. Jacksons’s contrasting relationship with the guards and the prisoners is an important aspect to the plot, as is his desire to escape. Luke’s initial break-out is incited by the news of his mother’s death. Although he is caught, his determination to escape is only slightly dampened, so he merely breaks out once again and fails. Thus, the guards begin to wage a campaign to finally break Luke’s spirit once and for all, by putting him to wor...