{"id":389,"date":"2016-04-12T10:36:05","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T10:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/?p=389"},"modified":"2016-12-16T03:27:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T03:27:52","slug":"looking-back-at-indiana-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/2016\/04\/looking-back-at-indiana-jones.html","title":{"rendered":"Looking back at Indiana Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Movie flashback<\/strong><\/p>\n

Action, adventure, and something mysterious\u2014that\u2019s Indiana Jones.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been four films in the Indiana Jones franchise, all starring Harrison Ford as the swashbuckling archaeologist with a penchant for artifacts, and directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the \u2018movers and shakers\u2019 of the blockbuster movie form.<\/p>\n

By day, Jones is a lecturer at a university, perhaps the less interesting part. Part-time, he\u2019s saving artifacts from the greedy and bringing the artifacts back to museums, where, he says, they belong. And he gets well-paid.<\/p>\n

The action scenes and sense of adventure make his endeavors come to life. Part time jobs were always the most interesting.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a bit of a ladies man with echoes of James Bond. He has no trouble getting the girl.<\/p>\n

When saving artifacts for museums, he happens to get in over his head: he\u2019s saving people\u2019s lives and encountering the supernatural, which keeps him on his toes.<\/p>\n

It is grand storytelling, with mystery elements, such as what\u2019s the story with the \u2018lost\u2019 Ark of the Covenant, what\u2019s so important about an Indian village\u2019s sacred stones, and the significance of the cup of Jesus at the Last Supper otherwise known in legend as the Holy Grail.<\/p>\n

The aura of mystery around these artifacts gives the franchise an advantage over the more straight forward action adventure tales.<\/p>\n

The franchise started with Raiders of the Lost Ark.<\/p>\n

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The best of the franchise by a long shot. The production and writing quality is top notch, and the characters, especially Indiana Jones, have become legends.<\/p>\n

In an original twist on the Ark of the Covenant, Indiana\u2019s friend Marcus Brody says the ark should be researched because of its \u201cunspeakable power\u201d.<\/p>\n

Creating myth out of an Old Testament artifact did not sit well with some. The myth the film created is unhistorical and not biblical on some counts, but may be true enough on other points.<\/p>\n

We just need to read some passages in the Book of Samuel in the Bible to see how true it can be, more or less.<\/p>\n

At a simple level, it did convey a sense of coveting supernatural power for selfish purposes. That not only works as a plot device, but also as a religious or spiritual theme.<\/p>\n

The coveting of eyes are the Nazi\u2019s, circa 1936, just before World War II.\u00a0 Indiana Jones was there to save the world from what could have been a Nazi take over\u2014but those Nazi\u2019s couldn\u2019t procure the power they so desired.<\/p>\n

The lesson? Succumbing to temptations to use powers we don\u2019t understand end fruitlessly.<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Director and producer Seven Spielberg convinced the censors to give this film the first ever PG-13 rating. A PG-13 rating would make the film reach more people than the R-rating it was going to be given because of the film\u2019s violence.<\/p>\n

That controversy aside, there are some interesting themes.<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones is almost a Messianic figure in that he comes into an Indian village, after escaping a near-death misadventure, unaware that the village is in need of help. The village elder says Indiana has been sent to save them.<\/p>\n

Indiana has his reasons to help out. The stones required could be sold to a museum, so he thinks. But the villagers don\u2019t see the stones that way. To them, the stones bring well-being to the village.<\/p>\n

As well, the children of the village have been taken by a cult. Indiana must save the children as well as the stones and, as always, he is up to the challenge of sacrificing his interests for the needs of others.<\/p>\n

An aside: on that theme of sacrificing one\u2019s interests, could we conceivably give up our convictions for the needs of someone else or a group of people? That may be democracy, but where would we draw a line?<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So far the series had covered a major piece of the Old Testament and a small bit of folksy Indian religion. Next was Christianity with a medieval flavor.<\/p>\n

The cup of Jesus Christ at his Last Supper is framed in Arthurian legend while still maintaining the presence of Christ\u2019s sacrifice hundreds of years earlier.<\/p>\n

Sean Connery plays Professor Henry Jones, the father of Indiana. Henry is a medieval lecturer who is searching for the lost Grail or chalice Christ shared at the lost supper.<\/p>\n

The message seems to be: seek and you will find.<\/p>\n

When Henry\u2019s getting closer to finding the chalice, he may find more than a chalice, but an experience of faith which illuminates his awareness.<\/p>\n

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After twenty years without Indiana Jones films, there was a hunger for more.<\/p>\n

For me, the film was a letdown. Harrison Ford as the older, wiser Indy lacked the presence of the original Indiana. But I can\u2019t deny that Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones has made the character his own\u2014probably forever.<\/p>\n

In this sequel, Indy is betrayed by a friend, meets up with a lost love and her son, and tries to help a long, lost professor who has lost his mind. It should be interesting, but isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I remember a pivotal scene in the film more than the featured parts which were promoted heavily.<\/p>\n

The scene is of a \u2018god\u2019 getting upset. This time it\u2019s Cold War Russians, not Nazi\u2019s, who seek to use the god\u2019s power for their mind control techniques. That theme goes back to Raiders of the Lost Ark.<\/p>\n

In closing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is interesting that the Indiana Jones franchise goes back to themes from spirituality and religion.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s about having respect for things we don\u2019t understand. If that thing we don\u2019t understand is spiritual, we should tread carefully.<\/p>\n

There is always apprehension to things spiritual, rather than going headlong into it. That is being safe.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because we don\u2019t really understand what it is we are coming into contact with.<\/p>\n

However, those that seek spiritual powers for their own ends, end up with the short end of the straw.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder that director Steven Spielberg has made spiritual-themed films before such as E.T. (1982), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and The Color Purple (1985).<\/p>\n

And executive producer George Lucas made the seminal and spiritual Star Wars.<\/p>\n

If life is perilous and life threatening, the Indiana Jones story comes back to religious and spiritual themes to anticipate answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Movie flashback Action, adventure, and something mysterious\u2014that\u2019s Indiana Jones. There have been four films in the Indiana Jones franchise, all starring Harrison Ford as the swashbuckling archaeologist with a penchant for artifacts, and directed by Steven Spielberg, one of the \u2018movers and shakers\u2019 of the blockbuster movie form. By day, Jones is a lecturer at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,318,320],"tags":[6,15,61,8,10,9,81,16,7,11],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action-movies","category-practical","category-spiritual","tag-action-movies","tag-adventure","tag-classics","tag-film","tag-film-commentaries","tag-film-reviews","tag-indiana-jones","tag-life","tag-movies","tag-visuals"],"yoast_head":"\nLooking back at Indiana Jones - Life at the Movies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Movie flashback. 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