I wish I'd held onto all the movies I (re)made as a child. Armed with a VHS camcorder and more time than I knew what to do with, I would craft my own versions of my favorite movies, usually starring myself, stuffed animals, action figures, and in one instance, nutcrackers. Part of the fun was the drive to be creative and use whatever was lying around, no matter how ridiculous it might look onscreen. To me, it was magic...I had made a movie! That spirit is present during every moment of Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (hereafter Raiders!), an often eye popping documentary about a group of friends who remade, shot for shot, Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark. It took them a whopping seven summers to make the movie, with one particularly difficult scene being left out because the resources were not there.
Spielberg's film became an obsession for Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, who took on remaking it as a way to cope with personal issues in their lives. Astonishingly, the whole movie was storyboarded from memory, and then friends were recruited for cast and crew (with people taking on multiple roles on both sides of the camera). The best moments of Raiders! involve the behind-the-scenes footage, such as seeing how these guys recreated the famous truck chase. The most amazing feat of this production is that no one died. Or got grounded.
Making a movie is a laborious process, something Chris and Eric learned over the course of their seven years tackling Raiders of the Lost Ark. By the time they hit that last summer, tension was high and it was time to call it quits. But if they thought trying to shoot a movie using around-the-house items was tough, nothing could prepare them for what would happen when they reunited, over twenty years later, to shoot the missing scene. It's fascinating and painful to watch the lengths these former best friends were willing to go, financially and psychologically, to finish what they started. There's a certain amount of exhilaration in seeing grown men living out a childhood fantasy.
In addition to witnessing the production side of the movie, Raiders! also focuses on the phenomenon surrounding it once word got out (thanks to director Eli Roth). It was an immediate sensation to say the least, a chance for audiences to share and embrace the passion these kids had for movies and the art of making them. Raiders! is one of the most inspiring and downright entertaining movies I have seen in a long time, a crucial reminder in the power of ambition and the belief that dreams can come true...even if it takes a while to find it within yourself.
Find out more about the adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark at: http://www.raidersguys.com
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(c)Hell and Beyond, 2015
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