Finally, here is my tiny essay about how the light represents everytime god is present in Wake up Dead Man (and how "God" means us being gentle, offering grace, love and kindness to others).
Since the first moment Jud meets Wicks we are shown that this church is not one to serve it's people.
Jud is looking up to the space where the cross used to be when Wicks enters the church. Wicks is supposed to be a server of god and we almost believe it as he opens the door and a little light gets in showing his figure, as if it were something sacred, but it doesn't last, he closes the door after him, assuring the church stays in the shadow, away from the warmth.
The next time we see him around light is during his sermon, when Jud is describing the members of the flock but, the light that Wicks is surrounded by is artificial. There's spotlights at the back that are meant to highlight him when he talks. Blind people into thinking this is someone God chose to guide and serve but it's not true.
We do see another artificial light in the movie, the lanter that Samson carries around, but it's use is completely different than the ones Wicks uses because Samson carries it to guide himself. He doesn't shine it in other to deceive but for God to light his path. And Samson is, as Jud says, the only good person in there.
When Jud stops writing the recollection of the events for Blanc, when he omits that Wicks drank and he hid the flask, he does it for the sake of Samson. He wants to spite Sam from that, showing concern and kindness, represented in the lamp shining behind Jud. A lamp that cast light above and below, because maybe what he is doing is "bad" (he is "lying") but he chooses to do it for a good reason, to show he cares for this person.
The next light is very interesting, after Jud talks to the police and he sees the angry messages for the killer priest. He admits he can't stop thinking about how Wicks won, because he was kind of happy the guy had died. And the light shines.
So, who is casting this light on him? Jud is alone, no one is showing him any grace or kindness, not even himself. And that's the thing, this light is natural.
He says he can't lie to Christ about being glad Wicks died, but he knows that's wrong and he feels crossed with those emotions. He opens the doors of the church but he doesn't close them like Wicks did, he let's them open. He let's God get in.
This light, is God himself.
Because Jud said, God loves us at our worst, when we are guilty. This light accompanies Jud all the way to the church. Where he ask for help and guidance, allowing himself to repent for it and where he can get some semblance of forgiveness. I'm not saying God guides him to the church because it's not like that. It's not the physical place, it guides him to the place him, Jud, needs, which is the place he feels closer to God or where he is suppossed to feel secure.
When he ask for help, Blanc presents himself. He opens the door again and light shines through him, although the door threatens to close (because Blanc doesn't believe in it, althought God (kindness) runs in him).
(I don't know about costume design but Blanc wearing lighter colors as opposed to Jud's black reverend attire feels again like a call to this. Fathers aren't pure, they are sinners too but as Jud says, they aren't there to fight what's different to them but to serve among. Blanc who is hell vent on helping him is always in light colors, representing the good even when we aren't perfect, although Blanc is always in lighter colors in all movies).
When Jud says it's difficult to be in the church and not feel his presence, Blanc laughs and it's so clever, not only because it shows Blanc is not a catholic but because there is no God in that church. Well, not really, Wicks tried to shove it out but he couldn't.
When Blanc talks about what it (the church, God) makes him feel and he says how it's pretty but it's just a story. The light goes out. Not because God is not there when Blanc says he doesn't believe, but because Blanc talks about the church, the institution, and the bad things they do "in the name of God". God is not what Blanc is describing, his presence is not in those acts. God is the kindness we show others, it's caring, loving and emphatizing with others and those things aren't present in what Blanc is saying.
Even Jud says it. This church is not magical, it's more like a themed park full of rites and rituals and costumes. But that's not God. Jud says "do these stories convince us of a lie? or do they resonate with something deep inside us that's profoundly true" God is not the church, nor the rituals, God is the goodness inside of us that tries hard to come out every day and that we choose to believe exist in everyone and everything. A truth we want to believe in.
And the light shines again, above Jud and it illuminates the church. It even illuminates Blanc. That's God and Jud brought it there and to Blanc. (That's what a priest is supposed to do, that's why Jud feels like a priest again).
In the scene with Louise, when she says she feels alone, we can see light, bright and shining but, it's outside. It doesn't or it can reach inside. Because sometimes, even when the light, God, is there, sometimes we can't see it or we need help to let it in, to feel worthy and Jud is there to make a bridge or simply, lit the light inside. We don't get a light illuminating like in the church with Blanc, because that's not what that is, with Louise it's not exactly God's presence that is there but Jud's. He says "I'm here for you" and that in itself is the light she needs. And he realizes that he has focused so much on the game that he forgot what was important (to him).
In the woods, when he explains to Blanc why he can't keep going with him and why became a priest. We get to see another light, the lanter, but this time is Doctor Nat who is guiding himself with it. Which is a telling on it's own because he convinces himself this is a good act. And it's shown in a moment where Jud feels he is far away from his duty, that he allowed himself to stray when he should be closer than ever. And God is there, giving him an answer a signal that he is not as far away as he thought.
Blanc and Jud are arguing about the case and when they hear the sirens, Blanc knows they are coming for Jud, but instead of telling him that, he shows grace and tells him a lie about the police coming for an update, and that he will handle it so Jud goes away and thanks him, but he doesn't only goes away from the church but from the light (because he feels at a cross right now).
Then Jud stumbles upon the false rising, so artificial and planned as a God's deed that we get a blindlingly artificial light shined directly to ourselves (Jud). Because this act wouldn't bring any good thing to anyone, this wouldn't bring God (love, kindness, grace...) in anyway. It actually only brings more death and greed into the people.
Then we finally get to Jud calling everyone into the church to confess. When he does, he opens the doors of the church once again, letting the light in and he walks into it (into the church) and doesn't close the door, he let's everyone and the light in to listen to what he has to say, to confess.
When Geraldine ask him if he wants to confess to something, we see Jud is illuminated by light, but we can see this is not an artificial light like what Wicks used in his sermons, this is natural. Either because God is with him now or because Geraldine is also showing him mercy by allowing him to confess on his own.
The last light in the movie is when Blanc is about explain how and why and more importantly who did it. But, he sees her, we can clearly see how he looks to where she is and Marta knows she's been found. And then he feels it, the light dawns upon him and he knows this is deeper than solving a case, deeper than marking another mystery as solved, deeper than a game being played and won. So he shows her grace by allowing her to confess on her own, to let it mean something just like Jud told him.
He steps out of the light because he is contrite about feeling God in there (remember, not God itself because it's not a person or myth but what it represents, love and kindness) but he stands his ground, he can't give an answer to this case.
And the lights gets out because everyone else is just on their own seek of something (not God, something for themselves) like Cy with his video and proof that Wicks rised, hope for Simone, a story to tell for Lee. There's no God in those deeds.
And finally, with Jud as the new priest of the place, we see the church completely illuminated.
And that's it. I delayed writing this for long but I just loved this movie so much and wanted to make my points understandable, hope they are.
There's a couple of lights that make me curious and I couldn't quite place but, I would love to talk about so, according to my thesis, what do you think the light shining on Cy, when he is telling them he convinced Wick to burn the flock, means? And the light shining on the scene Marta created with Wicks and Doctor Nat on his basement?
