A
central theme throughout Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade is the estrangement between Indiana and his father,
Henry. The introduction of Henry is crucial because it allows the audience to
gain insight to Indiana’s character. According to Pfeiffer, “The device of
introducing his [Indiana’s] father played by Sean Connery was a stroke of
genius” (Pfeiffer 175). The distance between Indiana and Henry is first
introduced in the beginning of the film when Indiana steals a golden cross from
a group of thugs. Indiana approaches his father to tell him about the cross,
but Henry is too preoccupied by his obsession with the Holy Grail. It is clear
that there is a sense of disconnectedness and between young Indiana and Henry.
Later
in the film, Henry is captured by the Nazis while attempting to save Marcus
Brody, Indiana’s mentor. Indiana pursues the tank in which Henry is being held
captive. Indiana successfully saves his father as well as Marcus just before
the tank goes over a cliff. It appears that Indiana has gone over the cliff as
well and is presumably dead. At this moment, Henry is distraught by the fact
that he has lost his son. Henry reflects on his relationship with his son and
feels as if he has failed as a father. Henry states, “Oh God. I’ve lost him.
And I never told him anything. I just wasn’t ready Marcus. Five minutes would
have been enough.” Meanwhile, Indiana climbs up the cliff to safety. Henry,
Marcus, and Sallah are shocked to see that Indiana is alive, but quickly
recuperate and continue on their journey. This scene is particularly important
because Henry shows his love for his son for the first time. When Henry
realizes that Indiana is not dead, he embraces Indiana and says, “I thought I
lost you.” At this moment, Heny realizes that he has a second chance to be a
good father to Indiana.
Toward
the end of the film, Henry is shot by Donovan, a Nazi who is also searching for
the Holy Grail. Indiana knows that if he can obtain the Holy Grail, he can save
his fatally wounded father. Indiana passes through a series of booby traps to
reach the Grail chamber. Inside the chamber, Indiana uses his knowledge to
choose the true grail. He then fills the grail with water and gives it to his
father. Henry is instantly healed by the power of the Holy Grail. This is a
pivotal moment in Henry and Indiana’s relationship because it shows that
Indiana has forgiven his father and he genuinely cares about Henry’s well
being. The estrangement between Indiana and Henry is symbolically dissolved
when Indy gives his father the Holy Grail.
Campbell’s
Atonement with the Father is played out throughout the course of Last Crusade. Ultimately, Indiana and
his father realize that their relationship is more important than the Holy
Grail.
I agree that we don’t see until the very end that Indiana and his father show that their relationship is more important than anything else. Until that final scene when Jones Sr. tells him to “let it go”, we don’t have any example of the two showing that they put anything before their work. We go through the entire movie with the impression that Indiana learned to put his work before everything else. We see this in action right in the beginning when his father didn’t even look at him after he retrieved the cross.
ReplyDeleteIt was a smart way to close out the movie by waiting till the end. It tied up the whole movie and left us with the over lying message of the film. The whole point was to let us know that they really did love each other and just didn’t always go about showing it in the best way. Jones Sr. is obviously distraught when he thinks that he has lost Indiana. He says he just needed five minutes to tell him how he felt. All he really needed to tell Indiana was that he loved him. His main flaw was that he just didn’t know how to express to his son how much he loved him. He finally gets to after he thinks he has lost his son. Better late than never.