Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation

OPENING DATE: 05/31/2003

STUDIO: Independent

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
Triumph of the nerds.

Opening Statement
In 1982, three 12-year-old Mississippi boys decided to make a shot-for-shot re-creation of Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. Without any prior filmmaking experience (and in the days before the home video market had established itself) they worked out a way to backward engineer their own version of the greatest adventure movie they had ever seen. Chris Strompolos played Indiana Jones on screen and was the movie’s producer behind the scenes. Eric Zala served as director and played the part of rival treasure-hunter Rene Belloq. The ingenious Jayson Lamb was responsible for the camera and special effects. Filmed in the summer months only, the project occupied their lives for seven years and tested their friendships. After the movie was finally completed in 1989, the boys made copies for themselves — a souvenir of their teenage filmmaking adventure — and parted ways.

Facts of the Case
Raiders of the Lost Ark: the Adaptation existed for years through an underground network of increasingly degraded video tape copies — one such copy got into the hands of director Eli Roth (Hostel). He passed a copy to Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News who programmed it into his Austin, Texas film marathon in 2003. Following the wild response from the Butt-Numb-A-Thon 4 crowd, programmer Tim League was determined to reunite the film’s creators for a proper world premiere screening. Further attention was brought to the boys’ labor of love when the March 2004 issue of Vanity Fair featured an exhaustive story by Jim Windolf on the movie’s creation. That same year producer Scott Rudin purchased the rights to make a biographical movie about Eric, Chris and Jayson ‘s experience making their Raiders Adaptation. Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) is currently working on the screenplay.

The Evidence
Despite the minor media explosion around the Raiders Adaptation when it resurfaced in 2003, the movie remains an elusive artifact of fan films. Due to obvious copyright issues, the movie is not commercially available on home video. On rare occasions the filmmakers have brought it to screenings where the proceeds go to charity. Organized by Kick-Start Cardio to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society and Camp Good Times, a special one-night-only screening was held in Vancouver, BC on May 2, 2008, with Chris Strompolos in attendance. Less than three weeks away from the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy fever was high among the sold-out crowd at the Park Theatre. But how would they react to seeing a bunch of kids trying to re-create such a beloved piece of cinema?

Originating on Betamax and VHS, and further degraded from generations of tape duplication, the Raiders Adaptation looks as bad as can be expected. The picture is most unstable only in the opening few minutes but even at its best moments the image details remain soft. Though the teenage filmmakers probably refined their sound recording method over the years, the audio is also of varying degrees of low quality. Those viewers who were not familiar with the original movie would likely have found it difficult to follow the script as presented in this version. It was hard to deny that we were watching an aged copy of some kids’ home movie. But it wasn’t long before something magical started to happen.

As the classic John Williams score plays over the scenes, a familiar feeling begins to take over. The camera angles are more or less how I remember them. That shot of Indy running over the hill with Hovito Indians in hot pursuit looks remarkably similar to the original. The actors are different, the sets and lighting less sophisticated, yet somehow it all feels right. Like listening to a rock band cover an old favorite, if they hit enough of the right notes your memory of the original fills in the missing parts. And these kids hit so many of the right notes.

For the most part, their timing of the scenes is impeccable. With the tempo for each sequence dictated by that instantly recognizable music it quickly becomes apparent how accurate this shot-for-shot re-staging really is. Attention to detail is evident in the set decoration and costumes. And then there are the stunts. Seemingly with complete abandon, the teens faithfully re-stage the rousing fist fights and shootouts we remember so well. They manage to burn down the Ravenwoods’ bar in Nepal (actually the basement of Eric’s house). Plus there are enough moments of amateur stunt-kids leaping on and off of a moving truck to make you wonder how long can this go on before an adult puts a stop to the fun?

While many of the performances are what can be expected of adolescent “day players” (charmingly comedic at times) the principles do a good job. Eric’s French accent improves over the years and he conveys the right amount of arrogance to be Belloq. A nice surprise is Angela Rodriguez, as Marion Ravenwood, who is a natural in front of the camera. Chris puts in a good effort as Indiana, mimicking Harrison Ford’s body language and rough-around-the-edges charm — it is an honest reproduction and definitely not an ironic impression. In fact, there is no hint of parody anywhere in this fan film. In its painstaking closeness to the original, the Raiders Adaptation proves itself to be a sincere homage to the original. That spirit of authenticity won over the fans in the audience.

Aside from some restless younger viewers, the Vancouver crowd enthusiastically embraced this highly entertaining home movie. Applause and cheering erupted after each action sequence. Laughter constantly competed with the soundtrack whether it was in appreciation for a well-staged favorite moment or in disbelief that a stunt was pulled off so convincingly. The style of the original movie — the way it looks, sounds, and moves — is so familiar to a certain generation of film-goers that it is practically a common language. The Raiders Adaptation speaks that language so fluently that we understand it even when it isn’t perfect.

There was the risk that this fan film could be one of those unofficial off-shoot products that cause mainstream fans to cringe in embarrassment. Thankfully, the Raiders Adaptation is the exact opposite: the kind of inspirational effort that makes fans proud to dust off their fedoras. This fan film is too good to decay into video tape heaven. When Hollywood does make the movie about Eric, Chris and Jayson, let’s hope the video by these novice filmmakers is included as a bonus DVD. Until then, Indy fans, keep an eye out for a charity screening near you.

The Rebuttal Witnesses
There are a few moments that don’t make it into this adaptation: Indy’s entrance in Nepal isn’t announced with his giant shadow, for one; the horse that gets him onto the Nazi truck is another. The most notable deletion is the fight on the airstrip with the flying wing. But the cuts also reveal the filmmaking instincts of Eric and Chris. They correctly decide that the flying wing scene isn’t crucial enough to the story to warrant staging a poor model explosion. And where they can’t find a biplane and horse to play with, they manage workarounds. It doesn’t serve much purpose to be overly critical of this elaborate home movie. For every missing scene or moment that doesn’t work there are ten that turn out better than expected.

Closing Statement
When the earliest announcements of Crystal Skull were heard, I had mixed feelings about a new Indy movie. As the Star Wars prequel trilogy proved, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Would a new Indy adventure after all these years diminish the magic of the previous films? It was only a few minutes into the Raiders Adaptation when I realized it would take much more than a single movie to ruin the fantasy. Even though the kids’ version wasn’t exactly the real Raiders, it definitely captured the spirit of it. Watching their movie was probably the closest I have come to feeling as though I’ve watched the original for the first time again. That magical feeling of being swept along in the fun and adventure is why I love these movies so much. No matter how the fourth movie turns out, the essence of Indiana Jones will endure. Now, I can’t wait for Crystal Skull — it’s going to be great!

The Verdict
9/10

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