I watched Safety Not Guaranteed over the holidays, and I loved it.  The film tells the story of a  newspaper intern--a young woman named Darius Britt--who is researching a story about the following newspaper ad:

Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

Of course, the key question of the film is whether or not the man who posted the ad--Kenneth Calloway--can actually travel through time, or if he's just crazy.

This question comes to a head in the final scene of the film, and in this climactic moment, I was reminded of a very different film--Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

[spoilers after the jump]

At the end of Safety Not Guaranteed, Darius runs to find Kenneth, worried that something has happened to him.  She reaches their prearranged meeting place and finds him in a boat that appears to have the potential to be a working time machine.  She apologizes for not being truthful about the story she was writing, and Kenneth tells her, "Then get on."  There is a moment where she hesitates,


but then, slowly, Darius begins to walk the plank board onto the boat.

I won't spoil what happens next, but for me, it didn't matter--the fact that Darius chose to believe that Kenneth actually created a working time machine was the high point of the film.  Her faith in him, in the impossible, was beautiful and inspiring.

I see a strong connection to a similar moment at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Indy is rushing to find the Holy Grail in a desperate attempt to save his father's life, and all of a sudden, he reaches a seemingly impassible chasm:


Like Darius, Indy chooses to believe in the impossible, to step out into nothing and take a chance.  Interestingly, both choices involve stepping out onto a thin plank, creating a very striking visual similarity between two otherwise quite different films.

What I love about this connection, though, is more than just the connection in imagery--it's the similar worldview that both films endorse.  Both of these movies embrace a world in which the impossible is possible, where events defy rational explanation, and where life doesn't always makes sense but it's celebrated anyways--and for me, that's the true beauty and potential of fantasy literature.

By Jen Miller

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If you enjoyed this article about unexpected connections in fantasy and science fiction, check out Madeline Barnicle's earlier article in this series.