MovieChat Forums > Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Discussion > So they find the grail and then ??

So they find the grail and then ??

posted 9 years ago by Kranadon65
5 replies | jump to latest

They find it , use it to heal Henry Jones Sr and then he just puts it on the ground.
I mean WTF? they just risked their lives for this unbelievable artifact which would be the most historic find ever. And then the whole quote Indy says to Elsa when she picks it up makes no sense , he says "Elsa don't move , the Knight warned us not to take the grail from here" That's BS , the Knight only said that the effects of drinking from it would not
carry over if you left the cave ,he said nothing about not taking it out of there.
And to add insult to injury after Elsa falls to her death trying to get the grail off a ledge , Indy tries to grab it when he just told her to leave it . I mean come on script writers and Spielberg mustve had major brain farts.

[–] Kruleworld 9 years ago

after Elsa falls to her death trying to get the grail off a ledge , Indy tries to grab it when he just told her to leave it

i think Spielbergo was trying to say, rather hamfistedly, that Indy had something more valuable to him, his father, rather than just another museum piece. Also there would probably be terrible wars and stuff if the grail really was found. (i'm sure the Nazis wouldn't be the only ones wanting to use it)

"He's dusted, busted and disgusted, but he's ok"

[–] mikeyg24 9 years ago

I always thought the idea was that the Grail was similar to say the ring from LOTR's. Indy knew what the right thing to do was but the power of the Grail was such that it negated all rational sense. Just a thought.

24/04/1916

[–] the1armedman 9 years ago

The knight literally told him "but the grail cannot pass beyond the great seal" immediately after saying "you have chosen wisely" after he drank from it. Then he said "that is the boundary and the price of immortality." You can stay and be immortal, and guard the cup, or you can leave and live your life, but the cup ain't leaving.

And what's use of taking the grail outside of the temple if it can only work inside of it. The whole point was to get the cup you had to go through all that trouble and show your penitence and piousness and stuff. It tied into the whole medieval thing of quests and suffering to find salvation that was part of the grail lore and late Arthurian legend. And I think at that point they were paying more attention to him being magically healed of a bullet wound than the cup.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

"And what's use of taking the grail outside of the temple if it can only work inside of it."

Yeah, this is how all archaeologists and greedy people think. It has to WORK to be worth anything, just like all ancient religious relics. What world are you living in?

There are museums, there are collectors, there are people simply obsessed with certain things (look at anime fans), there are so many ways this cup would've been EXTREMELY VALUABLE, that it boggles the mind that your mind couldn't figure out even one.

They didn't -know- this fact about the grail before the end.

I always took the ending to be a form of one of those old stories, where the prize is changed from a 'physical trinket' to 'internal insight and wisdom that will last beyond this life'-type of things.

There's another similar story (Spoilers!)..

..

..where Spirou and friends go to a long, complex adventure and series of events just to satisfy a Testament and Last Will of someone, to gain a valuable inheritance, presumably millions and millions in a western currency.

Then at the end, the 'rich uncle' reveals in the letter, that he has actually been quite poor, and has nothing else to give, but this 'fun adventure' - and after pondering for awhile, the protagonists of the story come to a realization that the 'rich uncle' was right; the adventure was amazing, and they come to value this gift more than they would have the money.

I love this kind of endings, it switches from greed of material things to appreciation of something more real and eternal, that you can take with you when you leave, unlike gold and material wealth.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (15105) 5 years ago

First off, despite Elsa's passing interest in history, she wasn't a true scholar, and worshiped her Fuhrer more than anything else. Dr. Jones Sr. even pointed out that Elsa never believed in the Grail, just assumed it would be another treasure to take back to her beloved fuhrer and gain more power in his regime. She never truly believed that it had holy power.

I also get the feeling she wasn't listening when the knight spoke to Indy about the price of the Grail's power. Deep down in her black heart, Elsa was little more than a conniving, selfish, power-hungry bimbo. She was also arrogant, believing she was part of a superior race of human beings because she filled all the roles of being a proper "Aryan," and she could get away with anything. That was part of her downfall.

The losing of the grail was also symbolic. It was basically saying, nobody should have power like that. An arrogant idiot like Elsa losing it was the finest example.

It's true, that last part where Indiana does the exact same thing Elsa did 2 seconds earlier, trying to get it when he's the one dangling by a thread, and can juuuust touch it. It's like, didn't he learn anything from watching the Nazi bimbo? Even a child wouldn't make that mistake! It seemed almost like a cheap way to remind the audience that Indy had something more important than some priceless artifact: his dad.