Gooch- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Although each of the movies in the Indiana Jones trilogy is meant to show Indiana’s journey through each stage of knightly formation, The Last Crusade has elements of all three stages in one movie. This last mission of the trilogy is the perfect mission for him to fully transform into the Aristocratic, or Spiritual, Knight because it is personal. The journey with the father he barely knows challenges Indy to search more inside himself for what he believes. He is challenged to confront his

past and the resentment he holds against his father. The first part of The Last Crusade explains where Indiana’s love for escaping death in the pursuit of ancient artifacts was first born. In this back story, we see so many reasons why Indiana Jones is the way he is: his fear of snakes, his belief in preserving artifacts, why he has little belief in the law, and the distance between him and his father. In the ending scene of the back-story he is confronted with his pursuers and the sheriff, being forced to give the crucifix back. In this scene we see how he is formed into a Mercenary Knight. He no longer believes the law can help him, so instead he works on his own fighting without belief in the cause, but simply to achieve the artifacts and achieve

the thrill.

Then as Indiana finds out that his father is in trouble, he becomes much more invested in his mission to save him. This personal connection attaches Indiana to a bigger cause and transforms him into the Indentured Knight. We see how much he lacks spiritually still when we compare him to his father. His father is on this journey not for the thrill or to retrieve an artifact, but to protect the artifact from evil and find “illumination.” This is shown in the scene where Indiana is at the cross roads with his dad arguing about where to go. His father explains why he has searched for so long for the Holy Grail, but Indiana still won’t believe because he has suffered from his father’s dedication to his mission.

We see Indiana reach his final stage at the end of the movie when he has to retrieve the Holy Grail in order to save his father. He has to go through three stages that are no longer based simply on cunning, like his previous tests, but on spiritual kn

owledge. We see him accept his role as a Spiritual Knight when he is hanging from his father’s arm trying to reach the grail. He is faced with the choice to risk his life one more time and retrieve an ancient artifact, or simply appreciate what it had done to save his father and leave it behind. In his refusal to reach for it and walk away with his father, he proves his worthiness to be a Spiritual Knight.