The New Zealand International Film Festival is going on right about now, and the Embassy (the famous, fancy movie theater that has hosted events such as The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King world premier) is hosting a myriad of film choices. Pier now works for the Embassy (a sweet gig that Dejan convinced him to apply for, now with the reward of us getting discount movie tickets for everything but the film festival), so he informed us about the NZIFF. It sounded exciting - new films from all over the world, presumably never seen before by general audiences simply because they're foreign and so unique, not because they appeal to only a small percentage of the population...
I was determined to go to one of the big films, called The Assassin. According to my impression of the description (which mostly consisted of "a general's daughter, exiled since childhood, is assigned by her martial arts master to kill the cousin to whom she was once betrothed"), it was going to feature a badass ninja lady who is breaking social norms and gender roles of the time by kicking ass and taking names - including her ex-lover, which undoubtedly will lead to some edge-of-your-seat drama! Not only that, but the movie takes place in China during the 9th-century Tang Dynasty (I'm only pretending to know exactly what that means), but it was filmed in Taiwan - so I knew from personal experience it was bound to feature some epic landscapes. AND the director had won Best Director for this movie at a thing called the Cannes Film Festival, so it was a guaranteed good movie, right? What could go wrong?
When we went to the theater with Pier to buy tickets, however, the only showing was sold out - all 700 seats! I was outrageously disappointed, and Pier took it upon himself to "convince" one of his coworkers that they had overlooked two free seats (Pier had to work during the showing) - and sure enough, they had! So we ended up with two seats after all. Dejan and I went to the theater and found our glorious reserved seats, feeling lucky.
I should've been warned by the mean age of the audience members - we were probably the youngest by two decades. I figured it was because members of the younger, poorer crowd (aka our crowd) weren't willing to pay the nearly $20 ticket prices. I was wiling to pay it, of course, since I was convinced this was going to be a life-changingly awesome movie.
The lights dimmed and the movie started. I couldn't wait. It started off slow, with beautiful black-and-white images of a China from the olden days, presumably to set the stage for the exciting fighting scenes. Indeed, after 20 nearly silent minutes of stalking, the beautiful Assassin herself killed a guy on a horse with one unexpected throat-cutting slice, making approximately one millisecond of action. But this was just the beginning, after all. Presumably things were just warming up. I waited some more, appreciating the now-in-color sets and the stunning costume designs, waiting for the plot to unfold and the Assassin to confront her former lover in an epic martial arts showdown.
I waited for an hour. Still nothing. Slow, quiet monologues about Chinese provinces I didn't recognize, anger from the Emperor (or provincial leader? or just a fancy guy with a beard?) for reasons I couldn't understand, and the Assassin cripplingly upset after she was given a piece of jade. I watched her cry silently (a clip that took approximately 5 full minutes) and was bewildered - why the heck did that fancy gift make her feel sad?! I figured this would spur some sort of change in character, like she finally would resolve to do the unthinkable and confront her ex in a duel of the ages - but no such luck. Instead, we watched a clip of a woman (the emperor's wife? who is also a dancer?) waiting patiently for her husband - which took another solid 5 minutes at least.
After a long while of patient watching and waiting, my stomach started to grumble. I reached in my bag and pulled out the chocolate bar I had brought from home (before you judge, remember that we paid nearly $20 per ticket, so how on earth could I justify paying movie theater prices for a snack?!). I broke off a piece of chocolate, trying to do it as quickly and silently as possible, when the 60-something-year-old lady sitting next to me took an exaggerated look at my chocolate bar, scoffed, tsked at her middle-aged friend next to her (presumably rolling her eyes at my insolence), and turned back to me to say loudly: "You could've had your tea* at home! It's ANNOYING." She said it loudly enough for heads sitting in front of us to turn. Shocked, I quickly put the piece of chocolate that had been mid-way to my mouth back down, mumbled a humiliated "sorry" and set down the chocolate bar as quietly as possible.
I was absolutely mortified. Not only had I apparently done something so heinous that it merited an instant, loud scolding from a stranger, but the incident had also drawn the attention of everyone around me - potentially all 700 people around me, as this non-action-assassin movie was the quietest movie I've ever seen. I felt like shouting, "I hadn't meant anyone harm; I just was poor and hungry, okay?!" And what about people who buy snacks from the concession stand? Do they simply stuff their faces before and after the movie in order to keep the people next to them from being distracted for a second or two? Heaven forbid if someone misses a single second of the 4-minute clip of goats chewing in a Chinese pasture! Am I taking up that much space that I'm actually an un-ignorable annoyance to those around me?
Luckily the movie distracted me with its intense action and absorbing drama....NOT! I enjoyed the movie even less, brewing in my frustration with the wine-sipping lady next to me. Dejan asked me if I wanted to leave (he was enjoying the movie even less than I was), but I was determined to stay. The lady would want me to leave, as my very presence was clearly a bother to her. I wanted to continue to "enjoy" the movie myself - we paid the same amount for tickets as she did, after all. We have the same right to enjoy it as she does. I could've done the immature thing and made as much noise as possible at that point, or said something sassy like, "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty," but I'm proud to announce that I took the high road. Aka I was too shocked and upset to think of what to do, so I sat there and tried not to cry.
The worst thing I did, while packing away my uneaten chocolate bar after the movie, was pick up her empty wine bottle, set it on the arm rest next to her seat, mutter "pick up your trash" (which I don't think she heard), and leave. I'm SUCH a rude person. No wonder I annoyed her.
Sigh. Anyways, that was our experience with the fancy side of life. It was a nice reminder of why we don't normally do things like that - I guess we're just not sophisticated enough to enjoy such a movie with a crowd of hoity-toity people. And if the rest of the film festival crowd is as uppity as that cranky woman, then I don't want anything to do with it anyway. I want to surround myself with people who remind me that differences in people are a blessing, not an annoyance. And I never want age to become an excuse for rudeness - just because you've lived decades longer than I have doesn't mean you are allowed to make me feel bad about myself. That never becomes okay. Older people (this applies to children and centenarians alike) should be role models and positive examples for younger people. This is a concept I'm teaching my YMCA kids now - and yet if they're being taught otherwise by their elders in society, how will that message ever make it through?
At least I have loads of positive experiences in New Zealand to know that this is not at all a Kiwi thing, it's just that one lady. Kiwis are genuinely kind and caring people, but snobs are found everywhere. I've learned my lesson in paying for overpriced movie tickets. I've also learned an important lesson on self confidence: other people might try to make me feel like an infringement on their space (there are countless examples where this applies, especially for women), but I should never forget that I deserve some space too - and so does everyone else. No one should feel as small and humiliated for such a silly thing like making 5 seconds of "too much" noise like I did on Saturday.
Okay, I'm finished ranting. Hopefully this serves as a reminder for why we need to keep being kind to other people. I'll start by being kind to my family by writing blog posts more often. ;)
Thanks for reading! Until next time.
-Hannah
* "tea" means "dinner" in Kiwi English
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