Raiders of the Lost Ark Film Review

The shots in the scene reuniting Indy and Marian are impersonal, long shots and medium shots.

The scene introducing the relationship between Indy and Marian quickly cuts in to the Nazi whose expertise is one of torture. He has come for the same thing Indy has, and the close ups are Marian's facial expression of fear as she's about to lose her eye to a red hot poker. Indy comes to the rescue and the final Nepal scene is a montage of dynamic action where Indy and Marian make their escape.

The film cuts to the Middle East, where Indy and Marian have traveled, as have the Nazis, in search of the ark. The first part of this Act II, so to speak, introduces Indy's good friend and his Middle Eastern contact. The scenes in the Act II employ a series of medium and long shots as Indy and Marion make friends with each other in the Middle Eastern market place. This is followed by another montage of action as Marion is captured by the Nazis, and, in a daring rescue that employs a motif of market activity and confusion, Indy believes Marion has been killed. He is taken prisoner by the Nazis, who reintroduce him to his nemesis, Belak. Belak is now working for the Nazis.

The reintroduction of Belak employs a series of close ups and points-of-view of first the character of Indy and then Belak as their conversation and adversarial role is reintroduced. Indy is rescued by his Middle Eastern contact and friend, and the scene cuts to home of a wise man who can interpret Marion's medallion. This scene employs close ups of the handsome Harrison Ford, and his friend and Middle Eastern contact as they realize - just in time that Indy is about to swallow a poison date. There is a POV of both Indy and his friend as the focus is on the dead monkey lying on the floor.The scene cuts to the archeological dig site where Marion is being held captive. From this point out, there is a lot of action shots employing montage film techniques and a lot of directorial use of panning to capture the images of the vast dig sites. The retrieving of the ark from the Nazis is the action montage, and it cuts to the ship where Marion and Indy are making their get-away. On the ship the scenes between Indy and Marion close ups, to capture the expressions of affection and rekindling of romance.

The final scene involving the Nazis and the rescue of the ark, is the site where the Nazis, who have retrieved the ark, plan to open it to discover its secrets, is one that employs the most intense special effects of the film. There is panning to set up the sense of how Indy is greatly out numbered by the Nazis and a lot of medium shots of Indiana as he poses with a rocket launcher threatening to destroy the ark. Of course, as an archeologist, he can't himself to do that, and surrenders to the Nazis. Taken prisoner with Marion, once again, there is a montage of action as the special effects through light and laser demonstrations take over to the thundering warning of the music warning the viewer of doom. In the end, the Nazis are destroyed with close ups of their faces melting through the layers of skin, ligament to bone demonstrating, first, their horrific terror of what they are seeing just before they disintegrate.

The story comes to a conclusion with a meeting between Indy and the U.S. Government, then closes with a long shot of Indy and Marion arm in arm, off on - well, who knows......