A movie is a movie no matter where you watch it, right? For the most part I’d agree, but my experience watching Batman: Dark Knight last night was spiced up a bit thanks to my Nairobi locale.
After a rather grueling month of orientation, training, and language learning classes, I was finally able to spend a night out on the town. Roxanne was incredibly generous in allowing me an afternoon and evening off from parenting duties as she took the reins on caring for Annikah alone from her afternoon nap all the way until her bedtime. The break was much appreciated!
Several of the women here were planning to attend M’zuri Monday Madness, a promotion that the movie theater at the Junction (upscale Nairobi mall) puts on each Monday. It’s quite the deal – 380 KES gets you a movie, small pop, your choice of hot dog or Mars bar, and popcorn. That’s a bit less than $6 for all of you non-Kenyans out there. Not bad, eh? To seal the deal, many Hollywood films now run worldwide release dates, and seeing that the new Batman was the fastest grossing film to hit $300 mil I figured why not.
My new Canuck buddy Darnell and his Kenyan language helper Ahmed joined us. As I was the first to arrive at the theater, I bought all of our tickets. My first surprise: in Kenya, they actually assign seats for a movie! Cool, eh? Most of the theater was already sold out, but I picked three seats on the touch screen 4 rows back. Not bad. America could learn something here – how cool is it that you do not have to show up 30 minutes early to nab a decent seat!
After an incredibly tasty chocolate shake at Java House (highly recommended if you are ever in Nairobi) we headed up to the theater around 5:45 (show “started” at 5:50.)
We were greeted by swarms of M’zungu mixed in with the upper crust of Kenya. I mean the place was PACKED. And I’m not talking American packed. I’m talking no personal space, sticky, often smelly, scared your wallet might disappear, and definitely not for the claustrophobic packed.
Oh well, we paid for our food, so we figured we’d still make it in before the previews were over. We reluctantly made our way into what I guess you could describe as a “concession line”. Herd is a bit more appropriate. For some reason, non-Western countries just don’t seem to do the “que” concept. We stood there for at least 10 minutes not moving and noticed that what we thought was a line was actually a hoard that rewarded those that fought their way to the counter first. Somehow the girls managed to get their grub, but the 3 of us were not so lucky. We finally worked our way to the counter. By now it was 6:10. Oh well – we were about to get our food, right? Hah!
Me: “Habari! Here’s our receipt – we’ll take 3 specials w/ Coke.” Kenyan woman: “I’m sorry, you cannot pick this up here. Make your way over to the other counter just there” as she takes my receipt and disappears. Wha?!! You are kidding me, right? Still determined to get our scrumptious hot dog meal, we once again fought (a bit more aggressively this time) and made it to the other counter. Surrounded by others demanding their hot dogs, popcorn and Coke, I finally flagged down our Kenyan friend, made some form of eye contact, and yelled Coke. She seemed to comply, but disappeared again. 6:25. For sure we’re missing part of the movie now. Just about to give up on the food, our friend reappears and amazingly has three boxes with our food. SUCCESS!
I was determined to get in the theater so I waded my way through the masses, threw what I thought was Ketchup on my dog (I know Chicago, not allowed – but when it’s just pork and bread, it’s warranted) (turned out it was hot sauce), and made it into the theater. To my amazement, the screen was blank and theater was still buzzing. It was 6:30 - ha - I guess the whole “African time” concept extends even to Western style movie theaters. Woohoo!
Batman: Dark Knight is a fantastic film – I loved spying all the Chicago scenes. It’s always fun to analyze a movie when it’s filmed in your hometown – driving sequences NEVER make sense! The movie was incredible even when:
· Your “reserved” seat is being sat in, and requires an usher to bust out 5 minutes worth of Kiswahili arguing before it is vacated.
· The first thing that happens when the theater gets dark is that the Kenyan flag is projected, all rise, and the Kenyan national anthem plays!
· The audio continually flickers between blaring 5.1 surround sound to a tiny, muffled, single center channel speaker and every time it does, the audience groans.
The evening was capped by the audience’s enthusiasm. I’ve only experienced this kind of interaction a few times in the States; most often at a theater packed by drunken college students or watching a movie like Shaft in central Atlanta. My favorite moment was when I heard someone howl out a “Sawa Sawa” (translation: SWEET!) after a scene where a semi flips end over end. Needless to say, it was an entertaining night.
After the movie ended, Ahmed had dropped his mobile phone, and we searched for it for a good 15 minutes. Thankfully it turned up in a hot dog box. Turns out we didn’t really lose any time – the ingenious architect designed one way out for each theater, and they all dump you right into the swarms that are fighting their way into the theater, probably wondering why the movie they paid for is starting over an hour late!
After a ride back in the guest house’s Matatu (van) and avoiding the massive potholes, Kenyans running across the street in all directions, and spiked rumble strips the cops conveniently placed on the road to seemingly cause head on collisions, we finally made it home, having enjoyed a little cross-culturally flavored taste of home. Well worth the price of admission!