Indiana_Jones_Movie_Analysis

The Holy Grail From the opening action scene to the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade you are relating with the main character. For the time being, you slip out of reality and are drawn into the world and life of Indiana Jones. It is easy to relate to Indiana Jones in this movie because he is an intelligent and brave individual. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade puts together great film technique and an exquisite story to help the viewer identify with Indiana Jones on an imaginary level. It feels as if I were the one back in 1912 running from tomb raiders risking my life to seize an artifact just so it can be seen by the world. George Lucas, the writer of the Indiana Jones trilogy and other famous work like the Star Wars movies, provides us with a great cast of actors and behind-the-scenes staff, as well as an exceptional soundtrack that stresses adventure and excitement while making you want more. The opening scene of this movie is one that makes me forget that I'm looking through a camera and not actually there. It starts off when the young Indiana Jones is horseback riding in the mountains of Utah with his boy scout troop. While riding in the mountains him and his friend come across what appears to be tomb raiders, raiding the tomb of deceased Spanish conquistador, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Indiana Jones has his friend send for help while he sneaks in to take a ornamental cross which belonged to the conquistador. The raiders see Indiana as he is fleeing the tomb which begins the chase scene. This chase scene draws me into the movie, causing me to suture in and relate with the main character at the imaginary level as if I were the one being chased! The director and producer do a number of things to cause this suturing to take place. In the opening scene they use almost every camera angle in the book: close ups to show the fear in Indiana’s face when he sees the variety of predatory animals in the train cars, a point-of-view shot to show the speed of the train from his perspective while he was running atop it, extreme long shots to show the action and the wide open space of the Utah country side, low angle shots to try and emphasize depth while Indiana was being chased by the raiders in the automobile, and many more shots including long shots, medium shots, medium long shots, and high angle shots. Steven Spielberg, the director, also used many film techniques in this opening scene to awe the viewer and keep us wanting more. He had perfect match-on-action through all the punches, kicks, and escape maneuvers that Indiana used while fleeing from the tomb raiders. Spielberg also used tilts and pans to give the viewer a good look of what is going on around the characters during times of quick motion. He also filmed while tracking on a dolly to maintain focus on characters while the train and automobile were in motion. The writer and director devoted the first scene to explain the personality and motifs of Indiana Jones. This scene sets up motifs for character development as well as motifs for the plot. It reveals to you that the whip that Indiana is famous for was what saved him from a lion at a very young age. You then see the root of his fear of snakes because he fell into the bucket of snakes. The nasty scar that you see on Indiana’s face is from the whip in the lion’s den. It also shows how he got the fedora that he sports everywhere but the classroom. Seeing all these known symbols allows you to recall parts from the previous two movies where these symbols were present and shed light on how all these personality traits and characteristics came about. After the first scene the movie fast forwards twenty-six years. As the plot develops, Indiana meets some new people and is re-introduced to some old faces. He is informed that his father was kidnapped while in search for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail was said to be used during the last supper by Jesus Christ and his apostles and to bear the power of everlasting life. While in search for his father, he finds himself in Venice waterways being chased down by the protectors of the grail before making his way to a castle on the Austrian and Germany border. He is led there because this is where his father is believed to be held captive. When Indiana Jones enters the castle he comes face to face with evil. When we are presented with the battle of good vs. evil we generally want to identify with good because believe that we are good natured. The short clip in the beginning of the castle scene associates Indiana Jones with good as opposed to evil. It does so because the people inside the castle holding his father captive are people from the Nazi party, who have a history of mass murder and other terrible acts. They are also in search of the grail to obtain great power and world dominance. During the time period of this movie Germany is known throughout the world as an evil superpower so when you see that Indiana is going up against these people you are rooting for him. The writer of this movie basically forces you to identify with Indiana, because if you aren’t identifying with him you are identifying with the enemy of our country. The shot, in itself, wasn’t enough to help me relate to Indiana. It was also the lighting, camera work, and non-diegetic elements like soundtrack. When Indiana Jones is about to realize who is behind the kidnapping you can see very little facial details, which creates the focus on where the light is coming from. This use of soft lighting as well as suspenseful music from the soundtrack built the anticipation for what you were about to see. It slowly lead into a high angle shot of people from the Nazi party hard at work a floor below. The color scheme of this shot has a lot of desaturated colors, which is muted and contains more white than a saturated color. This color scheme doesn’t force you to focus on anything in particular, but the shot as a whole. It lets you recognize the red Nazi arm band and see the large map which tells you that they are in search for the grail as well. This combination of lighting, wardrobe, camera angles, and non-diegetic elements allow for viewers like me to feel like were in the shot peering down on the Nazi’s unbeknown to them. From the beginning of the movie you can tell that Indiana and his dad, Henry, have a weird relationship. His father is an intellectual and strict man as you can tell in the opening scene as he makes Indiana recite Latin before he can talk. Though the movie is called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Henry Jones Jr. is Indiana’s actual name. Even though Indiana is thirty-nine years old at this point, his father always calls him Junior which he despises because he wants to be called Indiana. This is a sign that there is tension within the relationship and that he is still looking for his father’s approval. Though there is tension in the relationship Indiana still puts himself in the most dangerous of situations to save his father’s life. A strained relationship seems to be the status quo until Henry convinces Indiana that he had approved of him all along. He does so by saying one word, he simply calls him Indiana. It appears to mean a lot to Indiana and caught him by surprise as he gave up on reaching for the grail and decided to find his way to safety. This symbolism shows resolution and brings happiness to a somewhat sad and complex father son relationship. People who have a weird or unsettled family relationship could relate to this scene and really identify with Indiana or Henry. I didn’t identify at the imaginary level to this emotional scene as much as someone in strained family situation would because I’m fortunate to have a good family situation. Even though I didn’t suture I think the scene added a key part to the movie and enhanced the movie as a whole. This movie also touches on the subject of religion as they reference The Bible, Jesus, The Last Supper, and other biblical terms while searching for the grail. Your views of Christianity will either encourage or discourage symbolic identification for you. The film claims that there is a God and a Holy Grail filled with the blood of Jesus Christ that provides everlasting life. After growing up in the catholic school system I now identify with christianity, which caused me to suture into this film. It made it easy because the characters in this story identified with the belief in the grail which is associated with God and The Bible. You know that the characters who are after the Holy Grail believe in it since they are doing almost everything they can to find the the cup of everlasting life. The scene when Indiana is walking through the dangerous pathway was one that I felt connected with. It pulled me in as a viewer with the deathtraps waiting around every corner. The scene combines many angles to give the viewer an up close look at what is going on. Whether it’s a high angle shot of the hidden bridge or a low angle shot of the knight kneeling and waiting for someone to finally come. The scene also used quality editing techniques with the use of a green and blue screen to shoot the scene of hidden bridge and Indiana’s leap of faith. Computer Generated Imaging was used for the disintegration of the manipulative businessman after he chose the wrong cup. Film techniques, such as forced perspective, used optical illusions to hide the walk path the temple. Match-on-action also benefited this scene, allowing the viewer to see him dodging giant saw blades from different angles. The presence of key lighting also added to this scene as it allowed us to make out facial details of the characters but kept the temple dark like it should be. The combination of content, camera angles, formal techniques, and editing techniques make the last scene a scene you will remember! After watching you can tell that this movie was directed and produced by people who knew what they were doing. Whether it was the story line or the different elements being added by the director, there was never really a dull moment to this movie. It combined an array of camera angles, formal elements of film, and editing techniques. In my opinion they chose a great cast to act out the story and an even better soundtrack. The soundtrack combined a pallet of different instruments and clued me in on how to feel and what might be coming next when I wasn’t quite sure. The combination of these film techniques created moments in this film where I didn’t feel like a spectator. I felt like I was right beside Indiana, yelling, “GO INDIE!!”