"A (not so) Silent Film"

Yesterday I took the kids to see a movie with two other families that we recently met here. The theatre is in a shopping mall in Lekki called The Palms. It's quite popular as it has a huge grocery store (huge by Nigerian standards - about the size of a small Kroger or the Star Market I grew up with), several electronics store, a store we all call "Little Target", a Woolworths, a KFC, and a small food court. My friend had a brochure with the movie times (not available on-line and if it were, you can't buy tickets in advance) and invited us to see the latest Alvin & The Chipmunks movie - "ChipWrecked". My kids have already seen it ofcourse but that doesn't mean squat on a hot weekday during school vacation! The movie started at 10:50 and we were in line for tickets at 10:15; a miracle given Lagos traffic. The tickets were $500 Naira or about $4 USD and it was the same for children and adults so I was pleased as everything is so expensive here. A good size popcorn was also $500 Naira. The food court had hotdogs, cokes (orange Fanta is very popular here) and some candy but nothing like in the US which was a blessing. As usual, I smuggled some kids' snacks in my purse to avoid the candy prices.

My friend and I assumed it would be quiet since many people are away for the Easter holiday and for the most part it was an almost empty theatre - when we sat down. The flick actually started on time and there was only one preview - amazing! The sound initialy had that same deafening volume that we are used to in the States but because there were so few people, it was lowered after about 10 minutes.

After about 15 minutes, a huge group of children and a few adults filed in - a school field trip we assumed. There was the initial disruption that happens when children are trying to find seats and sit with their friends. Once they were seated, it quieted down. But then they broke out the food. Not the candy or popcorn from the concession stands but actual lunch food from the grocery store in the mall. Disruptive, but comical. 

After what seemed like a long stretch of time, another huge field trip filed in. Since the movie was well underway, it seemed odd but not as odd as when the house lights came on to allow the group enough light to find their seats. The movie wasn't paused however, so our kids seemed genuinely confused as to why the lights were on. Again, it quieted down a bit but then the food came out again! 

The theatre was now quite full and quite noisy so the powers-that-be decided to increase the volume- back to a deafening level. I suspect someone complained because after that, it went back and forth for the duration of the film. My friend said it was like a 2 year old was in charge of the dial - spot on!

To be fair, not hearing the film was not entirely due to the chattiness of the children as the adults were on their cell phones much of the time. Since it was a school field trip, I hoped the conversations were short or business related. Who am I kidding? The adults were just as bored as I was, but probably didn't have access to a quiet game of Words With Friends on their phones like I do.

As is my custom, I gave one of the women that inquisitive stare as if to say, "Is it really necessary to be on your phone right now?" but also basically says "You are so rude". My stare was returned with the usual comeback look. The one that says "Oh sure, like you've never done it."

It's nice to know some things are the same no matter what country you live in!

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