Director
Steven Spielberg
Leading Actors/Actresses
Harrison Ford and Karen Allen
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Paul Freeman, Denholm Elliott, Ronald Lacey, and John Rhys-Davies
Genre
Action/Adventure
Language
English
Awards
The film was nominated for a number of Academy Awards. It was nominated for the following awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. It won the following: Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects
Date of Release
June 12th, 1981
Producer
Frank Marshall
Setting and Context
The film is set all around the world, but its primary settings are in the U.S., Egypt, and a remote island. It is set in 1936.
Narrator and Point of View
The film is told through the point of view of Indiana Jones.
Tone and Mood
Mysterious, Revelatory, Intriguing, Scary, Happy, Energetic, Brooding, Strange, and Claustraphobic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Indiana Jones versus Belloq and his Nazi friends
Major Conflict
The major conflict of the film is the conflict between Indy, Belloq, and the Nazis as they all race to find the Ark of the Covenant first.
Climax
The climax of the film occurs on the remote island when the Arks mystical powers are revealed and several of the Nazis faces are melted off.
Foreshadowing
The supernatural qualities of the Ark of the Covenant are foreshadowed early on the film.
Understatement
The power that the Ark holds is understated quite frequently in the film.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is undoubtedly well-filmed (it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography after all), but it isn't innovative in filming or lighting or camera techniques.
Allusions
To the Bible (see: the Ark of the Covenant), mythology, astrology, science, technology (what Indy uses, particularly), geography (the various places Indy and company travel), religion, other films, novels (Indy is James Bond-like figure), and popular culture.
Paradox
Belloq purports himself to be a world-class architect, yet he loses the Ark -- and a number of other archaeological treasures -- very frequently.
Parallelism
The career arc of Indy and Belloq are oppositely parallel in the film (as Indy's career explodes similarly to Belloq's, Belloq's fades).
