Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes (1984)

Indiana Jones und der Tempel des Todes: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri. In 1935, Indiana Jones arrives in India, still part of the British Empire, and is asked to find a mystical stone. He then stumbles upon a secret cult committing enslavement and human sacrifices in the catacombs of an ancient palace.

“Very closely based on Guzman and the Shining Path Maoist terrorists in Peru, this movie is compulsive viewing.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot is fairly standard good cop tracks down bad guys – there are no bonus points for this plot. Indeed, some of the coincidences that arise as the film goes on are the weakest link in this otherwise near-flawless movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere has been much talk about the violent scenes in this movie, which are many, but especially the scenes with animals. My view is that it is no more morally wrong to depict violence to animals than it is to depict violence to humans, as long as no animal (or human) is actually harmed in making the depiction. We are told that none of the animals were harmed in the making of the film (and presumably also none of the people). As far as I am concerned that is the end of that matter – the use of animals, unhamred, for this purpose is acceptable. To argue otherwise I find, frankly, daft. However, I would recommend that people who get particularly upset when violence to animals is depicted should simply avoid this movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBack to the movie – the acting and the cinematography are superb. It is gripping – the film is 135 minutes long which is well past my attention span unless the film is really good. This film is just that.”