My favorite (maybe) is the three crosses that signal the beginning of the film.. they're of course, really electrical wire posts that appear to the left in the screen as the semi-truck carrying Ennis pulls up in Signal.
I think it's a curse born of lit classes for me to look for religious symbolism in 'important' literature...brainwashed for 4 effin years.
Actually, I like the three crosses at the beginning of the film quite a lot, but they were one of the few symbols I did not recognize on my own...I think I read about them here first. If they represent the crosses on Cavalry - the death of Christ before the Resurrection, then they are likely the closest symbol in the movie to an Easter symbol.
My favorite (maybe) religious symbol is the scales representing judgment. (And I'm not adverse to repeating myself on this point
.)
We see scales in the background of Monroe's grocery store when Alma is considering the state of her marriage with Ennis dumping the girls on her at work because of calving. Considered with her questioning Ennis for taking off work at a moment's notice for fishing, we can see her turning to Monroe.
More important are the scales in Alma and Monroe's kitchen when Alma confronts Ennis about Jack. She has judged him and found him lacking as a husband and a father.
There's the nifty camera move (also discovered by someone else) when Jack appears to be weighing Ennis' excuses for postponing their trip - the infamous lake scene.
And the scales of judgment I like best are those in Mrs. Twist's kitchen. The sparsely decorated house has a simple cross and in my opinion, Mrs. Twist is portrayed as a true Christian. She embraces Ennis with complete understanding of his relationship with her son and offers him comfort and the gift of seeing Jack's room, where I believe she knows he'll find the symbol of Jack's love for him.
This has strayed a bit from the topic of Easter, but I think if you see it in the light of the Christian myth of Easter resurrection...how does the Apostle's Creed go (United Methodist version)?
"...the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead..."
And therefore I have brought myself back on topic.