Aktuellism

Cinematic Trauma

Allow me to be a little off topic today. This post will not be just about languages or cultural differences but more generally about the cinema experience.

I went to see ‘Robin Hood’ last Friday and based on that experience I came up with a list on how to enjoy your cinema visit in Germany:

Do not go to the cinema on Friday evening a day after the film premiere (especially when the film you’re going to see is a potential blockbuster with a huge advertising campaign)

Do not go to a huge cinema multiplex with and auditorium of 1,001 seats

Do not forget that films in Germany are normally dubbed so Russell Crowe suddenly speaks German!

I’m usually not the kind of person who has to see a particular movie right after the premiere, but this time a friend suggested going and as I wanted to see this film anyway and didn’t have any other plans yet for Friday evening, I decided to join him.

Thank God he already got the tickets by the time I arrived at the cinema because the lines were horrendous. Then we had to wait squeezed in a mass of people until we were finally allowed in. Then half an hour of commercials started, but that’s the standard nowadays. Finally, the film started, I was enjoying it when the worst part happened! The film is long, so not only did we have to pay extra €10 for the length but also they made a pee break in the middle! One of the reasons I still go to the cinema at all is the special experience of enjoying the film on a big screen in one whole piece!

And then what I get is a dull 20-minute break where I get completely distracted so that some fellow cinema-goers can go to the bathroom after already drinking 2 liters of coke and then buy another XXL cup.

I think I don’t like it when cinema turns into a mass event. Don’t get me all wrong, though, I really liked the film, although it’s not as good as my favorite ‘Gladiator’…