Directed by:
Steven SpielbergScreenplay:
Lawrence KasdanCinematography:
Douglas SlocombeComposer:
John WilliamsCast:
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler, Alfred Molina, Denholm Elliott, Anthony Higgins, Frank Marshall (more)VOD (3)
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Archeologist and university professor Indiana Jones must retrieve the mythic Lost Ark of the Covenant before it gets into the hands of Adolf Hitler who plans on using its power to guarantee his global conquest. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (13)
I still remember that fateful day when my and Indy’s paths first crossed. It took place when I was less than seven years old at summer camp. It was a rainy afternoon and there were no outdoor activities. So that the teachers could have some peace, they put on a video for the horde of children. But unfortunately they had nothing animated at hand (causing a wave of tangible disappointment among us little kids) and thus we had no choice but to watch something from a well-worn cassette. At first, some movie started, but they soon stopped it (the biggest mystery of my life to this day; what movie was that?). They fast-forwarded the cassette to half way. Then some strange movie with a gentleman in a cowboy hat started. To make it stranger, it was dubbed by a single adult who was difficult to understand. At first I was terribly disappointed, but then the ball boulder rolled out, the main theme tune sounded, and... And nothing was ever the same again. I met the love of my life (I’m sure my wife will forgive me). This cinematic experience has been surpassed in my eyes just by one movie; and no, it wasn’t Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The day after the screening, the weather was beautiful, but while we were whistling the main melody, we forced the teachers to show us the second movie. The reactions to the soup scene were... But that's another story.
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The two scenes that I consider essential for appreciating Raiders of the Lost Ark (though there are a number of others) are the sequences with the airplane and the submarine. The former is a masterclass in constructing action in space and narrative in the sense of layering information and details that will then be utilised for dramatic effect and causal scene development. In addition, this sequence also demonstrates Harrison Ford’s strengths as an actor, or rather how he is able to sell his charisma while concurrently enhancing the comic essence of the scene with his facial expressions and body language. I find the submarine sequence essential for understanding the entire Indiana Jones franchise and its self-conscious work with trash. It divides viewers into two camps. One will nonsensically debate how Indy could have gotten to the island with the submarine. The other camp will enjoy the genius of the editing ellipsis consisting in the fact that it doesn’t answer the question at all, because it simply doesn’t have to. Then, after a few episodes, the first group of viewers will disparage the refrigerator scene and the presence of aliens (even if they’re not bothered by the Biblical supernaturalism of the first and third instalments), while the opposite camp will appreciate them as further manifestations of how the filmmakers honour the saga’s roots in trashy film franchises and their straightforward logic and low-brow elements.
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Anyone who doesn't take this brilliant ride through the history of adventure and stylistic tropes as an absolute gem is ripe for a psychiatrist. Spielberg and Lucas created a new form of entertainment that, with any luck, won't get old even after 1000 years. An example of a fully effective application of outdated genres and references to a dominant and entertaining filmmaking style, a playful and engaging combination of myth with real thematic background. Excellent music and camera, an awesome Harrison Ford and very possibility the most iconic character in cinema history, and so on, and so on…
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If you're seeing the movie for the 100th time, you can peel off any piece you want and still enjoy it. Last time we watched the movie we watched it through the lens of when is the last time Indiana washes up throughout the entire movie. If we assume he showers at Omar's after he's learned the length of the cane from the old man, the last time we see him smelling good (apart from the Washington epilogue) is when he and Omar infiltrate the Nazi camp in disguise. We can't blame him, of course, for not showering in that camp, or during the all-night dig, the subsequent escape from the closed crypt, the battle at the airplane, or the subsequent car chase (so far a pretty intense 2 days), but the fact that he says the hell with it even in the safety of a friendly pirate ship and then just takes a sporadic sea bath while chasing a submarine only to continue chasing Nazis to the center of the island gives the film a whole new reading. The most nerve-wracking scene in it is the one where Indy climbs into the white linen bed in his disgusting sweaty shirt, and Marion's silent agony at the final ritual is definitely grounded in who she has to be chained to the same bedpost with. Yuck. Well, as the popular rapper Tyler Durden says, "I wonder what we're gonna learn tomorrow."
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I was lucky enough to see this film for the first time as a little kid at the Czech premiere in a completely packed cinema (people were sitting on the stairs), during the deep totalitarian era, when everybody was happy to see something other than a Soviet film (despite the many years of delay). The audience togetherness and the incredible burst of laughter of the whole cinema during Indy's duel with the swordsman is something I will never forget. Beautiful fun.
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