You call this archeology?
When I was a kid I used to hate Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade. That first scene always annoyed me. We don’t need a logical and detailed explanation for every little detail
of his previous movies (where his scar came from, why he is afraid of snakes, why
he wears a hat etc). Isn’t it possible he just liked hats?
However, if you think about it, this is one of the most realistic movies of the Indiana Jones saga.
Claiming Indiana Jones is realistic is
something rather tricky. The movie tries really hard (and succeeds) to make him
a hero, but not a super hero.
Indiana doesn’t have any super powers. He is
strong, but not in the same way Batman is strong. He is not young, he has a job
– as a university professor and not a professional adventurer, mind you. He is
afraid of snakes, he doesn’t know how to ride a plane. Spielberg stated that his
main character could make audiences feel that “with a
little more exercise and a little more courage, they could be just like him.” But could we?
Despite Spilberg’s well constructed character and great, plausible stories, there is great amount of suspension of disbelief involved here.
Indy is still incredibly handsome. He gets most
of the women he wants. He doesn’t go to prison or gets killed, because he can
deal with nearly anything that comes his way – be that a giant boulder or a
pack of annoying students.
It took me years to give up being an archeologist, because I seriously believed that was the kind of live an archeologist lead. Even Indiana himself admits to his students that “seventy per cent of archeology is done in a library.” The reality is the other 30 per cent is spent on a dirty excavation, not going on exciting adventures.
This is where the third Indiana Jones movie comes to play. It is probably the Indiana Jones movie that balances real archeology with fantastic adventures in the most convincing way. This was done mostly through two supporting characters: Henry Jones - Indiana’s father and their friend Marcus Brody.
After that long explanation on the first scene,
Indiana is requested to follow a lead on the Holy Grail – the cup used by
Christ during the Last Supper. He must do that not because this is his own
field of research, but because his father went missing while looking for the
Grail.
Suddenly, the movie sounds less like a fantasy.
Henry Jones is a real scholar. He spent the last 40 years studying (and
obsessing) over the Holy Grail. His work might have cost him his relationship
with his son and wife, which he is aware of and doesn’t seem to care much.
The scene where he gets as excited as a child
when Indiana describes the tomb of Saint Richard… anyone who’s a researcher knows
that’s exactly how excited you get when you make the smallest discovery.
What comes after in this scene is even better:
he congratulates Indy for his discoveries and Indy recognizes that his father
did most of the work. Such displays of true humility are unfortunately not that
common in the academic area.
And what about his diary?
An old leather bound journal filled with notes on perfect penmanship, amazingly realistic copies of medieval works of art, maps, discoveries. People keep sending it in parcels by mail all over the globe. It’s vintage, it’s cool. That’s the stuff nerds are made of.
And can we please talk about Marcus? I know
he’s portrayed as this goofy character, but think about it: he’s hanging around
in universities and medieval libraries in Venice (while doing little work
himself). Ok, he once got lost in his own museum, but that means he has a museum.
Indiana makes fun of Marcus saying that he was only bluffing when he said Marcus could speak a dozen languages. We are supposed to laugh at him when we see him on the next scene looking totally out of place in Iskenderun asking “Does anyone speak English? Or Ancient Greek?”
That is funny, but I wouldn’t mind Indiana’s
cracks about me, if it meant he’s lost in a nazi bunker somewhere and I’m chilling on my
museum. Plus, let’s face it, who knows ancient Greek?
Later on this scene, Sallah tells Marcus twice
to run but he just stays there, baffled. I can’t really say I would act
differently in this situation but I guess his inability to act matches his
personality – the one of a person who spends most of his time studying.
Indy is a decision maker. He sees a nazi entering his zeppelin and what does he do? He hits a zeppelin employee, takes his clothes off, put them on and walks around with a perfect pretext: asking for people’s tickets - the same pretext which will be useful to kick the nazi out of the zeppelin, by the way.
It’s difficult to imagine that a person who
spends his time reading, thinking and analysing would be able to make split
second decisions like that – all the time. Not impossible, but I think most
nerds, including me, would react just like Marcus: “What? Run? Where to? Is that viable?”
When Henry tries to rescue Marcus, he doesn’t
do it fast. He first scares Marcus and then they spend an inordinate amount of
time singing and dancing to an old toast from the University club (“Genius of
the restoration… aid our own resuscitation!”)
I used to prefer Indiana Jones and the Templeof Doom, but who am I in that movie? Sorry Spielberg, but the days I thought I
could be Indiana are over. I can’t be Willy Scott – as a matter of fact I can
totally be a whinning girly girl like Willy, but who wants to admit that? I
also can't be Short Round (girly girls can’t be ninjas).
Now I’m older and nerdier and would love to be like Marcus and Henry in real life. I actually have a close resemblance to them, the only thing that’s lacking is to have a son/friend like Indiana. Suddenly, a hint of realism in the person of two old nerds pleases me more than Indy’s handsome awesomeness.
Now I’m older and nerdier and would love to be like Marcus and Henry in real life. I actually have a close resemblance to them, the only thing that’s lacking is to have a son/friend like Indiana. Suddenly, a hint of realism in the person of two old nerds pleases me more than Indy’s handsome awesomeness.
