Going to a Movie Europe Style

I had my first European movie experience the other night when a group of us went to see “Shutter Island.” There are a few movie theaters in Leiden, and one is about a five minute walk from here on a street that I have been on many times. I never even realized it was a movie theater—it just looked like all the other buildings on the street. There was only one stall to buy tickets and the lobby was sort of like a bar/restaurant with tables and places for people to hang out. Snacks were sold behind a bar and candy was only 85 cents! When the lady told me the price I was shocked and told her how much more expensive it was in the US, and she told me she’s heard that many times before. The actual theater was an old-school type theater, with a stage and red velvet draping.

There were no previews or ads before the movie; I just all of a sudden started. The other different thing was that there was intermission—in the middle of the movie the screen just went black and everyone got up to go get a drink and hang out in the bar area. I made a mad dash for the bathroom to avoid the line, but apparently the Dutch don’t go to the bathroom during intermission because there was no one in the bathroom but Krystle and I. After about 15 minutes, the movie started again.

One other interesting thing was the parts of the movie the Dutch laughed at (Shutter Island is a scary movie and probably wouldn’t have gandered any laughter in the States). There was one part where Leo DiCaprio is looking at a frozen pile of dead bodies in a Holocaust concentration camp and in his mind one of the bodies comes to life and the head raises and looks at him. The Dutch found this amusing and there was definitely a chuckle throughout the theater when this happened.