Raiders of the Lost Ark ending explained

What happens

On a remote island, the Nazis and Belloq open the Ark. Indiana tells Marion to shut her eyes, and the spirits inside destroy them all. Back in Washington, the Ark is crated and lost in a vast government warehouse.

The last image

The Ark's crate is wheeled into an enormous warehouse, where it vanishes among countless identical crates.

What it says

Indiana, the sceptic, survives only by refusing to look at what he cannot explain. The warehouse shows how governments file power away unseen. The film ends on humility: some things are not ours to own or master.