Here we see the Twelfth Doctor on Gallifrey facing Rassilon and his soldiers now turned firing-squad from near the start of the S9 finale: Hell Bent.
Let’s start with the angle of the shot. We’re seeing from behind the Doctor, facing towards the Gallifreyan soldiers. This hides the barn behind the Doctor and gives us the desert view that emphasises this execution is taking place in the middle of nowhere. It also obscures Rassilon, turns the Doctor’s back to us and shadows the soldier’s faces by way of their helmets. The image of a faceless execution is a powerful one.
It also means we are seeing things from the Doctor’s side. There are 3 sides to this. Literally, from the angle we’re looking at, but this also mirrors morally we’re on the Doctor’s side (at this point at least), and the story is being told by the Doctor in the diner to Clara so we’re seeing the whole thing from his side and POV.
I mentioned Rassilon was obscured - you could be forgiven for not spotting him at all. He’s hidden behind the Doctor. This shows really how irrelevant Rassilon the Redeemer and Rassilon the Resurrected really is when faced with the Doctor of War. Particularly given later revelations about the founders of Gallifrey and their relation to the Doctor in S12. How ironic the line “how many regenerations did we grant you?” becomes. More simply than that though, Rassilon is irrelevant to the episode and to the soldiers now that the Doctor is here.
The soldiers themselves are the main part of the image. The line they stand in is uneven, different heights and different bits of raised ground. This destroys Rassilon’s ideas of a uniform army there to follow orders and nothing more. It shows they are people. They make the choice themselves and that choice is throw down their guns. These aren’t Cybermen, all uniform in every way. They’re ordinary people dressed up as soldiers.
As for the Doctor himself, he’s changed from his velvet coat of the last episode into a black one. The episode dialogue later indicates that this is because he’s not acting like the Doctor this episode - “I can’t be the Doctor all the time”. Here though, it creates a stark figure of just black and white. Even his grey hair seems white against the crimsons and burnt oranges of the rest of the scene. The Doctor here is a figure of right and wrong - there is no shades of grey for Rassilon to justify his actions. What Rassilon did to the Doctor last episode and tries to do now is simply wrong.
A literal line drawn in the sand in front of the Doctor underscores this. It also creates a literal line for them to cross if they shoot him. If they fire, those bullets will have to cross that line to reach the Doctor. Instead it becomes a line to separate sides that they cross to stand with the Doctor instead of their Lord President.
At this moment though, everything is facing against the Doctor. Even the wind. But his arms stay at his side, blocking his coat from blowing further, and he stays stood resolutely. The Doctor of War. Unarmed but more powerful than anyone else in this image. No Presidents or Soldiers can ever be as tall as a man who is right.
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