My Favorite Scene

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Posted by Thuggee Bear from host-209-214-180-14.cae.bellsouth.net on August 07, 1999 at 10:17:21:

In Reply to: How the Indyfan.forum almost ruined my life, but then it got better... posted by Nick Kismet on August 07, 1999 at 00:24:29:

: Then it started to happen...
: It was when Indy is listening to and translating the shaman. Just the way the whole scene takes place...it was so perfect. I don't think Harrison Ford has ever been more on top of a character as he was in ToD. Every move, mannerism and word conveys everything I love about the Indiana Jones character; he's tough, smart and very self-assured.
: And then, I really started to enjoy the movie...


This is one of personal favorite scenes, possibly out of the entire trilogy. I'm glad someone else finally noticed it!!

In fact, I was reading an early draft of the script this week and was horrified to learn that originally the scene had alternate dialogue! In it, Indy tries telling the shaman that the British authorities could help, or that he could talk to some people when he gets to Delhi, but the shaman just says they couldn't help. It makes Indy look less heroic, like he's trying to get out of it. It also just didn't flow as well as what they shot. It's also not as effective having Indy reveal that they took the children so early in the scene. His last line, "The children. They took the children," is much more powerful. I really think that is a perfect scene, with the shaman speaking in Hindi in the background, the music, and Indy's voice very calm and confident translating. It's also a very eerie scene that hints at a greater mystery. Even the part where they are walking towards the Sankara Stone's shrine, it's almost like he never was Harrison Ford, but always Indiana Jones. In some of that sequence we only see the back of his neck, yet he's thoroughly convincing as Indy. I mean, the guy's acting with the back of his neck! It's funny how he took a scene that made him appear Indy appear more as someone who has no choice in the situation, and turned it around so that Indy appears to be the only one who has a choice, and the power to see it through.

Indy: (translating)
He says that when the sacred stone
was taken the village wells dried
up first and then the river stopped.

Indy turns and asks the shaman a question in Hindi. The shaman answers in Hindi.

INDY:
He says their crops died and then the animals died.

The shaman walks to the edge of the torchlight and looks out into
the darkness as he continues speaking emotionally in Hindi --

INDY:
And then they took their children.

WILLIE:
Their children?

She looks at Short Round and finally understands the sorrowful
faces always watching him. Indy asks another question in Hindi
and the shaman continues his story --

INDY:
He says one night there was a fire
in the fields. The men went to
fight it. When they came back,
they heard the women crying in the
darkness. And the children were gone.

The shaman walks slowly toward Indiana.

SHAMAN:
You will find them when you find sivalinga.

INDY:
I'm sorry, I don't know how I can help you here.

The shaman and the chieftain stare at Indiana, refusing to accept that.

INDY:
The English authorities who control this area are the only ones
who can help you.

CHIEFTAIN:
They do not listen.

INDY:
I have friends in Delhi and I will
make sure they investigate this...

SHAMAN:
No, you will go to Pankot...

The old man speaks again in his own tongue and Indy looks disturbed.

WILLIE:
What'd he say now?

INDY:
It was destined that I came here --
and the future cannot be changed...

Indy looks at the shaman and the torchlight reflected in his eyes.

: Then it started to happen...
: It was when Indy is listening to and translating the shaman. Just the way the whole scene takes place...it was so perfect. I don't think Harrison Ford has ever been more on top of a character as he was in ToD. Every move, mannerism and word conveys everything I love about the Indiana Jones character; he's tough, smart and very self-assured.
: And then, I really started to enjoy the movie...





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