Review: Indiana Jones Trilogy

I recently made my kids watch the 1980s Indiana Jones trilogy as part of "Mandatory Culture Night." It was something that had a big impact on my thinking.

The first two -- not so much, because I only remember them being really scary. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, one guy's head explodes; another's melts. In the second, a guy has his heart ripped out and gets burned alive. But because they didn't have any swearing or sex, they were rated PG. In fact, it was *because* of these movies that the PG-13 rating was created.

When the Last Crusade came out in 1989, though, I was old enough to not be affected by that sort of thing, and I found it really inspiring. I mean, here's a guy who didn't just visit foreign countries -- he lived there, learned the language, and built friendships.

When the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles came out in 1992, I was really excited, and would have liked to have watched the show consistently. Unfortunately, life and work got in the way, and I didn't see that many episodes.

Looking back, I can see how the movies planted the seeds of the life I grew to dream of. I wanted to travel, but I didn't want to just visit foreign countries; I wanted to life in those places. The hard part, for me, was figuring out how to do that. It took until 1994 that I figured out I wanted to major in International Business.

There are two lines from the Last Crusade that stand out to me. The first is toward the end, when the bad guy, Donovan, drinks from the wrong grail and instantly decays, collapsing into a heap of dust and bones. The grail knight, in the biggest cinematic understatement *ever*, says, "He chose ... poorly."

The second is when the Germans are trying to buy access to the site where the grail is, and offer the sheikh gifts "from some prominent German families." I remember the theatrical version used "Jewish" instead of "German," a nod to the persecution the Jews faced under the Nazi regime.

When we were watching the DVD, I paused the movie at that point and asked my kids what they were referring to, and then explained what was going on. Having been to the bunker in Berlin last November, it was an ah-hah kind of moment for them.

Perhaps one day, they'll remember this movie for the impact it had on them, too.