So My Bride and I were on a date at the movies in Kampala and we were the only ones there, two shadows in a sea of empty seats, and not thinking anything of it because this is not uncommon.
Not that movies are that bad here – although this one was and we ended up walking out – as much as the fact that there are only so many expatriates, that is fee-paying customers, in certain developing nations.
For its language and lewdness, this show could have benefited from a classification with a letter past what our current alphabet holds and this is why the two of us left. And all I could think later is that I’m usually a better judge of this sort of thing.
But the show scored high on reviews. And the other thing is that Smurfs 2, playing in the cinema next to us, was apparently rated R. This, according to this Ugandan cinema’s website. You get the idea. You have to take some chances with going to any movie here.
All the more because in the Uganda movie world, you’re never quite sure if any movie, never-mind the right movie, will show even once you’re in your seats, or, if it does pop up on screen, if it will do so at the story’s beginning and if it will then last until the story’s actual end.
Maybe the only good news on this one is that we didn’t bring the kids, which ensured that they didn’t see whatever those R-rated Smurfs were up to.
Of course, even at their age the kids already hear things like the F-bomb dropped here and there. This is life in the playground. But for the moment, they still get offended by that other F-Word. Hannah brought it up the other day.
“Jon called me fat,’” she told me.
“You’re not fat,” I said. “You’re the same size as Jon.”
“Well, he called me a fat head,” she then said.
Hmm. It’s been a long time since anyone at a movie would be offended by that sort of talk. One more reason why kids help you keep perspective.