Bill Viola's Asscention

I thought that Bill Viola's Ascension was a spectacular film.  When I watched the film for the first time I didn't know what to make of the piece.  I thought that the man who jumped into the water wasn't just doing it to cliff dive or something like that, but he was trying to drown himself.  I knew that the piece was in slow motion, but I didn't realize JUST how long this piece would take to unfold.  I thought that the piece was morbid at first, how could someone make art of a man drowning! Though something told me this was in slow motion I don't think my brain registered why it was and therefore the only obvious explanation for him being underwater for so long was that he was trying to kill himself.  However, when the man started to rise up out of the water I realized that this was not what the artist was going for, that the artist was just trying to show what it looks like to hit the water in slow motion with cool lighting.  However, while my eyes we're glued to the screen the entire time, trying to grasp what the heck was happening, I missed the biggest part.  I think all of us did.  The water splash made by the man was in the shape of a Cross.  How amazing is that! I wonder if that's what happens every time we jump in the water?  Any way I think that it really awesome that no matter how hard we might have looked the very first time we watched this film, unless we we're told ahead of time, we would NEVER known that the water would create that shape.  It's amazing to see how artists can slip in this kind of symbolism into a piece even without the audience knowing!