The Last Crusade: 35 years

Harrison Ford would round out the 1980s with the conclusion of the Indiana Jones trilogy in May 1989. This time around Indiana Jones is set off to find the Holy Grail and his father who went missing during his pursuit. It's the last-best movie of any given trilogy. In May 1989, Indiana Jone and the Last Crusade was released into theaters.

In the third part of the timeless trilogy, Jones goes into unfamiliar territory and also shares the importance of forgiveness, family, and strong faith. It follows Indiana Jones's quest to find the Holy Grail. What he would soon find out is his father Henry Jones Sr was on the quest up until his disappearance in Venice.

Indiana Jones picks up the trail from where he left off with Marcus Brody and Elsa. After escaping a near death at the hands of the Guardians of the Grail, he goes on a quest to find his father who was captured by the Nazis. Again, he escapes another near-death with his father.

They go to the Valley of the Crescent Moon and recover the grail. During the journey, Indiana Jones and his father found something more than a sought-after treasure. It was something that needed to be done that went beyond any adventure. It was their broken relationship.

Forgiveness and Family

Indy and his father had a broken relationship. It was a dysfunctional one. It is visible in the prologue part of the film when Indy recovers an artifact from grave robbers in hopes of sending it to the museum. He would dismiss and disdain him as he was seen sketching an image and praying.

As they were escaping on a zeppelin, they repaired the relationship, but it was dismissed when it was turned around to Germany and Henry refused to hear how he was shoddy towards Indy. It would be repaired again when Henry thought his son died after a German tank rode off a cliff. Henry said, “Oh, God, I’ve lost him — and I never told him anything. I just wasn’t ready, Marcus. Five minutes would be enough.” Sure enough, he survived.

As they finally chase the Nazis to the Valley of the Crescent Moon, they were ambushed. The main antagonist shoots Henry. Indy now had to save him. In the end, they repaired a relationship that was lost.

Faith

The Last Crusade tells us a great story of having faith. For Indy, he was challenged to believe in the grail or just have a belief in general. The last two movies showed that he was more of a science-oriented guy given that he believed in facts as opposed to legends and myths.

After hearing that his father’s trail went cold in Italy, he and Marcus rush to his ransacked home. They see an image of the crucified Christ. For a moment, some speculated that Indy asked Marcus if he believed in Christ. “Do you believe the grail actually exists?” Indy asked Marcus. Marcus would reply, “The search for the cup of Christ is the search for the divine in all of us. But if you want facts, Indy, I have none to give you. At my age, I’m prepared to take a few things on faith.”

Marcus wants us to understand that the search for the divine begins in all of us.

In the pivotal part of the film, Indy is faced with three challenges to retrieve the grail and save his father from the brink of death. As his main antagonist, Donovan challenges him, “What do you believe?”

Indy learns humility when he kneels before God to avert the booty trap. Then, he learns to walk in the steps of God by spelling Jehova as the word of God with an “I”. In the last challenge, Indy had to take a leap of faith (pun intended). This leap had to be completed by believing in himself as his father uttered, “You must believe”. Indy had to have faith in himself which he did as he leaped. St. Paul reminds us that faith is, “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

The film explores an overall theme of learning to believe. For Indy, pride got in the way of many things. He had to humble himself. He even was illuminated by his belief in God’s healing power that saved his father from death.

There are more that can be explored. Yet, these are the main themes that come out looking back at this classic of the late 1980s.