The Jewish wrapping is just an extra charm

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2009)

The beginning of the myth, of the legend of that Indian Jones. Worth seeing again today and funny like hell, except if you are afraid of snakes or spiders. Steven Spielberg and his friend George Lucas are obsessed by Hitler and the Nazis. They situate the film in 1936, In Egypt where the Germans are looking for the Lost Ark of the Temple of Jerusalem. Indiana Jones is not only an adventurer, sorry a university professor turned adventurer during his vacation, but he is also the good guy who is fulfilling a quasi-divine mission, that of saving a Jewish mythical artifact from the hands of the Nazis because it is too valuable to let it rot in bad hands, but also because it is said it may give eternal life to the person who would control it. With that in mind and with a little bit of romanticism and sentimentalism he is able to complete the mission, to destroy a few German Nazis along with it and to sow the seed that will produce the Junior who will take over four films later to assume the continuation of the myth in the 21st century. Of course what is essential and unique in this film is the action, a perfectly gratuitous action that is shown only for our pleasure and in no way for our reflection or moral improvement. And it works perfectly well along that line. Still quite enjoyable today nearly thirty years later. A student recently pretended that good special effects were not common in that period and before. This film proves he is wrong. Special effects were maybe less technical, certainly less computerized than today, but they were just as creative and inventive as today, with a lot less technical means, hence with a lot more sweat and grey matter.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID