Is there some joke there I am missing? Indy laughs at it
or is the joke simply that he misremembers his name and I am looking for some pun there that doesn’t exist
Honestly, I thought his name was spelled Belloch, and the pronunciation is just from the way a Cairo native might pronounce the CH sound (IMDB lists the character name as Belloq - but I don’t know how authoritative IMDB is).
I don’t know if any of that is true, I guess I just assumed it.
No joke. Sullah mispronounces the name and Indy laughs in recognition.
Doesn’t Indy correct his pronunciation after he stops laughing?
He does. I took the scene as Sullah mispronouncing the name of someone way up the food chain whose name he’s not quite sure of, then Indy laughing at how cruel life is that he has to keep facing Belloq, and correcting Sullah (mostly so we know who they’re talking about).
And this is the part where I correct everyone and say that his name is spelled (and pronounced) “Sallah”.
If I’m remembering correctly, Sallah’s line is something like, “they call him… Belloche”, and Indy laughs. I thought he didn’t know Belloq and is just repeating what the villagers call him, which they might mispronounce in a kind of “whisper down the lane” way.
Funny I was rewatching the first Indy just yesterday (expect a serious plot holes in Indy thread soon bcz of this). Belloq’s name is Belloq (I actually knew a Belloq lad, that’s how it’s usually written in French. Not that common of a name though).
You could see Indy laughing either at the thought life had put him again facing his worst/best competitor, or that those fucking Arabs really cant pronounce a name properly and they really deserve being overlorded by Westerners (check to the amazing scene where Indy digs out the Tomb in Egypt with his faitfhul Egyptian lackeys. Its’ beautiful, sunset and all.
And the only guy who’s not doing any working, but pacing around, is Indy. I’m having Tintin in Congo flashbacks here).
I’ll second this. I’ve watched the scene often enough. Sullah is simply repeating what others have called him. But I think it’s clear that Sullah knows who Belloq is (otherwise Indy’s line to him doesn’t make much sense - and I don’t think Indy’s talking to himself). Sullah just hadn’t made the connection between “Bellosh” and the Belloq he knew at least by reputation.
I always assumed it was Indy laughing at his pronunciation, and was included as character shorthand to introduce Sallah as a jolly good sport for being able to laugh at himself.
Well, he starts the dig, at least, before realizing how late it is and that it’s time for his Incredibly Picturesque Silhouetted-Against-the-Sunset shot.
Indy is a Professor. He doesn’t have a strong enough back for digging
Well… maybe he tried to help, but these guys are experienced diggers and are much faster than he is… and he’s paying them anyway (he is paying them, right?) so he might as well stay out of the way and let them get on with it… maybe?
He has a hell of a long day ahead of him, remember. Horse chase, truck chase, getting whacked in the chin with a long mirror…
IMO, it is the best shot of the entire Indy series (and it does have a Tintinesque flavor to it). Silhouette lighting is really the best way to light.
P.S.1: Can not understand how the Germans missed a secondary digging right next to theirs going on for a whole day. Ok, one might say that only Belloq really knew what his digging team was doing, and that’s why he’s the only one that spots the secondary dig in the sunset. Sounds pretty bullshitty.
This movie is full of holes, I’m really tempted to start a Indy major plot holes thread. Now, all I need is a little goading.
P.S.2: it is clear though that Sallah has never heard of Belloq, he is clearly an astute and ressourceful guy, can not see how he would not have put two and two together if he had heard of him before.
It is a huge archaeological site. There is not just one dig going on by the Germans, but many. So it is easy for Indy’s few guys to blend in the background.
Indy’s few guys are the only ones to continue digging after nightfall, theyre less than ten metres away from the main site, and nobody finds it curious?
That’s it. The diggers are getting paid by the Nazis. Indy just co-opts one crew for his own little project.
Yeah, right outside Cairo, which was ruled by the British at the time. All those Nazis must have had some very convincing fake passports.
surely they could get permission to go do a dig in Cairo even if the British controlled it in 1936?
Actually this is the single plothole that made me think of starting a thread about it. Even when there was a German army in North Africa (and that would be several years after the Indy series. Always figured it happened a little before official beginning of WW2, like thirty eight or something. At the very least, it happens before 41) , they never ever occupied Egypt.
They did worse in the 4th with Soviet Army doing maneuvers in South America using a machine that devours Sherman tanks for its breakfast, very discrete, Ninja-like.