the holy grail, a compilation.

the davinci code, indiana jones and the last crusade, monty python and the holy grail... what do these movies have in common?

one is a mostly crappy adaptation of a pretty good book made crappy by, among other things, the total miscasting of tom hanks as the lead; one is a fairly mediocre third installment of a really great movie redeemed only by the presence of sean connery; and one is a masterpiece of british comedy with a permanent place in my awesome movies hall of fame.

the one thing tying all these films together is the central theme of the holy grail. i love these movies, because the search for the elusive grail always makes for a plot rife with delicious historical inaccuracy. if you believe these movies, which were incidentally the first three grail-related movies that came to mind, the holy grail could come in one of three forms: an ornate and poorly animated golden cup, a plain wooden carpenter's goblet, or audrey tatou as a direct descendant of christ.

given this fairly obvious discrepancy between the films' ideas of where to find the holy grail, i feel like this would be a good time to point out that we can't take movies in general too seriously, we can just mock them for the aforementioned delicious historical inaccuracy. i mean, has anyone seen 'the league of extraordinary gentlemen?' it doesn't get any worse than that in the realistic representation of the past department. but i digress.

watching the davinci code, i've learned a lot about grail mythology- or, should i say, grail mythology as told by dan brown. i can now hold a somewhat intelligent conversation about things like the council of nicea, the symbols of the masculine and the feminine... even several underground societies that may or may not exist.

the ironic thing to me is that while the davinci code clearly goes deep into grail mythology, it's movies like indiana jones and monty python that show the more classic interpretations of the holy grail itself. all i know about the holy grail from watching indiana jones is that if you read the bible carefully enough you can construct a map that will lead you to a cave where there are a bunch of grails guarded by a really old dude, and you'll be letting sean connery die unless you pick the correct grail.

now, one of the situations i make a point to avoid involves being in control of whether or not the greatest james bond ever lives or dies. in the spirit of leaving indiana jones to handle james bond's fate, i choose monty python to guide my expectations of the holy grail. through the process of elimination, i choose to wholeheartedly believe that the grail is in a cave somewhere guarded not by a really old dude, but by an inquisitive man on a rickety bridge, a killer rabbit and the knights who say 'ni.'

bring on the shrubberies, the holy hand grenades and the swallows, both african and european. in my opinion monty python may not impart much wisdom, but it's definitely the most entertaining of the holy grail-centric movies out there.