Dark Knight

The other day I convinced R to go see Dark Knight with me, and boy was I in for a cultural surprise.  Who would have thought that a cinema experience, so simple and so classic, could be so different (and at times awkward).  First of all, you make a reservation by phone, which I must admit is a good idea, but now that I think of it is just another version of buying a ticket online.  Second, tickets aren't general admission, you're assigned a row.  You are at full liberty, once inside the theater, to choose a little to the left, or a tad to the right, but really, you don't actually get to choose your seat.  R insists that this is a more efficient way to sell out a movie, because filling each row before moving to the next insures they can sell every ticket, sans i-can't-find-a-seat drama.  It's very orderly.  Very dutch.  I argue, however, that not only does such a strategy insure a sardine-like movie experience, but that it is entirely possible for a cinema to sell out a movie simply by knowing how many seats exist in the particular cinema room and selling that number.  Leave the seat battle to the movie-goers.  And besides, as an american not quite yet back into euro-mode, I like the right to my seat based on pure whim and fancy. 

Next, there is an intermission, or "pauze" about halfway through the movie.  Now, I hear that this used to be common practice in the US, as my mom likes to reminisce about seeing Gone With The Wind, and how the intermission was at that ultimate moment of drama when Rhett Butler leaves Scarlett O'Hara (or something like that; i haven't seen it in several years).  But I myself have never been to a movie with an intermission.  Use the restroom beforehand, don't drink too much coke, and stick it out.  Well here in dutchland the movie intermission is still going strong.  And it's an ingenious way for the cinema to make a whole lot of extra money, as everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, returns with either a snack or a drink or both.  R and I declined, as we both resent the absurd price-gauging, but both regretted it when the movie started back up and the smell of chili chips wafted through the air.

Last but not least, there is beer.  And I understand that this is normal for just about everybody but americans, but I still find it funny, and I also find it rather difficult to explain to europeans just why it would be frowned upon and illegal in my country.

Such was my first dutch movie experience.  Next time I will take snacks, and not spend my time in line debating where exactly I would like to sit.  And perhaps I shall even have a beer.

Oh, and the movie was fantastic.  Heath Ledger is superbly creepy as The Joker.