Friday, February 4, 2011

Cutler: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade


In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy changes from mercenary knight to indentured knight and finally to the Holy Grail quest knight. The first scene in this film where Indy is shown as a mercenary knight is when he steals Coronado's cross from the bandits in Utah. Even though he is doing it for a good cause ("it belongs in a museum"), he is still stealing it, therefore doing it for his own gain. The next scene shows Indy as an indentured knight. He and his father narrowly escape the Nazis and come to a crossroads. Indy wants to go find Elsa, but Henry Sr wants to retrieve his diary in the enemy territory (Berlin). Indy begrudgingly obeys his father and becomes indentured to him and his quest to find the Holy Grail. Finally, we see Indy as a Grail quest knight. After years of his distant relationship with his father, Indy realizes that he is on a spiritual quest to find the Grail and he must respect that. He joins his father in finding the Grail. The scene when Henry Sr is shot, Indy becomes a Grail quest knight and follows his father's dream by searching for the Grail using his diary. He uses his knowledge that his father had instilled in him all throughout his life to realize that the Grail is modest and not flashy, so he picks the right one. In the end, Indy narrowly escapes but he has the knowledge that he found the Grail with help from his father.

1 comment:

  1. He really becomes a mercenary knight in the scene after his encounter with the man in the hat. Remember, he is a boy scout in the opening scenes; he believes in the law--he says we must call the sheriff. Further, it is not until he sees the sheriff with the Man with the red carnation that he realizes that anything goes.

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