The biggest flaw in "Raiders"

That original movie poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark kept one thing close to the chest: The film contained something so gross as to defy belief. To wit (spoiler alert): The big bad Nazis get the Ark of the Covenant back from Indiana Jones after he steals it from them. The head baddie decides to open it up to see if the sacred pieces of the Covenant are inside.  

At first, it looks like all they got was a fancy box full of sand. Cue the special effects: The melting faces, exploding heads covered in flames, crushing heads and beams of light impaling left and right. Also cue Indiana Jones saving his paramour Marion Ravenwood by telling her not to look at the Ark. Hooray for Indy, but boo Hollywood for all the gross stuff.

The most disgusting Indiana Jones flick is admittedly Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. Nevertheless, Raiders rates a solid second place when it goes to town with enough supernatural violence to make even a George Romero fan vomit.  And while the Nazis are depicted as the usual vile, goose-stepping goons, the film does not paint them in a dark enough light to justify all the ugly stuff that happens when God trumps their puny hand.   Perhaps this was deliberate overkill on Steven Spielberg's part to rid himself of anger at the anti-Semitic he endured in childhood? 

Whatever the reason it was put in, the scene is the biggest flaw in Raiders for two reasons: It is a jarring off-note to the film’s good-humored, action-adventure tone and feel and is overly graphic. It also seems to be confused as to whether this is God or the Devil at work. Why depict demonic beings as instruments of His wrath instead of something more pure?  

Lawrence Kasdan’s third draft of the screenplay called for a massive white light to spring from the Ark when opened. Now that is the fury of God, folks; massive, destructive, but also pure in form. Hollywood always likes to jazz it up, so it was inevitable Raiders would have the climax it did. At least the third movie was more subtle with special effects, one reason which makes it (in my opinion) the best of the quartet of Indiana Jones movies.  Go Henry, Indy, Sallah and Brody!

Article image courtesy Wikimedia.