INDIANA JONES
AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM 
Originally Released May 23, 1984

Starring: Harrison Ford
Actors: Kate Capshaw Quan Ke Huy Amrish Puri 
Director: Steven Spielberg 
Producer: Robert Watts
Screenplay: William Huyck and Gloria Katz
Rated: PG
Run Length: 118 min

Review By Peter Veugelaers ©2009

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is about a resurrected cult from India called the Thugee (with a fearsome looking charismatic leader called Mola Ram, played with glee by staple villain actor Amrish Puri) staging underground a palace called Pankot human sacrifices to the Kali idol while enslaving children to search for missing stones in the catacombs in which five together could make the cult all powerful over the country.

Indy (Harrison Ford) is there to bring back a protective stone they have stolen from a village, thought to be one of five.

The village claims Indy as a Hindu god’s messenger to restore the stone back to the village although Indy takes the title reluctantly. It’s saving the children which stirs him up while the stone represents another of his antiquity finds.

The missing stone is portrayed as a serious loss to the Indian village. The stone’s “magical properties”, as Indy calls it, is their belief from a specific culture. As well, the Indian god requires to be followed in that god’s truth or not. The cult has broken with the god’s “truth” by not following in that god’s footsteps. 

The issue, therefore, following logically from the previous point seems to be obedience or disobedience.

The movie hints at disobedience opening up the door to evil practices in the cult such as the graphically represented human sacrifices whereas the humility of the villagers, not pride and oppressive attitudes and practices, offers a way to life, probably meaning to Hindus (and psychologist Carl Jung) the light side of the dark.

The intended ‘dark’ side, which is how creator George Lucas describes this part of the Indiana Jones series like the second installment in the first made Star Wars trilogy The Empire Strikes Back, plays into most of the second half which is pretty violent too.

The Hindu allegiances at the end probably don’t stack up to anything in reality but if Roman Catholics claim a statue of Mary the mother of Jesus weeps then why so? Why would a stone in the movie do so much?

A biblical evangelical could say that an idol is nothing and has no power and that there is only Satan and his cohorts, ready to deceive people into believing that there is life in an idol (such as the five stones) taking them away from the whole truth found in Jesus Christ.

When it’s implicit that disobeying the god infers early on that its opposite, disobedience, has led to evil, this is either a major plot flaw in loading too much too soon or it’s a fine piece of making fun of its own premise. That’s because Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom has a great sense of fictional style. If you listen carefully there’s subtle humor throughout, which keeps it well grounded in fantasy illusion and fun. Bottom-line. It’s almost disposable entertainment.

The humor simmers and surprises like the Imperial British inspecting Pankot Palace while slavery is going on under their nose. Captain Blumburtt is an apt title. The Maharaja says there is no cult, but serves his guests snakes, bugs and monkeys. A dark hole at the bottom, though, which isn’t any surprise: ritual, human sacrifice, palpitating hearts, brain washing, black sleeps, nightmares, idol worship, chambers with closing spikes, and gets progressively darker with pampered nightclub singer Willie Scott facing the evils she couldn’t even dream of and that’s not just bugs and a bad night’s sleep. She’s pampered but not in India. Indy in over his head, which makes his travelling companions that extra bit insecure. He just wants the stone and go off to take a pleasant journey back home to teach “part time” if there is a plane nearby. Oh, really? A plane nearby the swamp sludge of a dirty palace in the heart of the jungle, you got to be kidding. Archeology has never been this difficult. Thanks to his fourteen-year-old sidekick Short Round when he's too much over his head he’s going to be okay.   

Harrison as Indy plays savior, guide and romantic all to perfection, a true adventure hero, with noticeable presence, to his invigorating fourteen-year-old Chinese helper Short Round (Ke Huy Quan), and with Willie Scott, played by Kate Capshaw (Mr. Spielberg’s current wife), who foils Indy at the start. That’s what you get when you sweep a girl off her feet, Indy style.