Monday, November 22, 2010

a free elf

I had school today, had a test in Art and Architecture, did some research for my Egyptian Lit paper, wrote my NaNoWriMo words on the bus ride home. But that's not what I want to talk about.
I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part I) tonight.
It was an amazing movie, it lived up to the expectations I've had for all the Harry Potter movies since the very first one, something that none of the previous films have ever managed to do. It was both an excellent movie and a faithful adaptation of the book. I enjoyed it very much.
What I didn't enjoy was seeing it in Egypt. It wasn't the company, I went with good friends who care about Harry Potter just as much as I do, it was the entire experience.
Even though there's nothing in particular I can pin my dissatisfaction to, (although I might mention the smoking break in the middle of the film, or the constant murmuring of the audience, or the ringing cell phones, though even the sum of all these annoyances was not enough to ruin the experience) but something was definitely wrong.
It just felt wrong, I suppose. It felt like I wasn't meant to be seeing the movie like that, in a foreign country, on an average night, surrounded by people who just didn't care. It may seem lame to you, but Harry Potter is worth more to me than that.
To me, seeing a brand new Harry Potter movie shouldn't happen in a tiny theatre that smells like cigarette smoke, with the audience made up of people who just wanted to see a movie, any movie, on a weekday night.
Seeing a brand new Harry Potter movie should happen in my theatre at home, surrounded by my family and friends, surrounded by fans who give a damn, *spoilers* who care when Voldemort kills Hedwig, who sit with their hands over their eyes when Bathilda Bagshot speaks to Harry in Parseltongue, who already start to cry when Dobby appears in the Malfoy's dungeon.*end spoilers*.
That's what tonight should have been like, and it just wasn't. I understand that's the way it had to be, because of where I am, and I guess that's just how life works here. This is Egypt.
But I don't have to like it, and when I get home in June, I'll be ready. Deathly Hallows Part II. We're going to do it right.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you weren't able to be fully satisfied. I thought the movie went by so fast! But maybe that's because there wasn't a conclusion to be made.

    I have to admit it, when I saw Les Miserables I had tears and snot running down my face when Valjean died, then I saw HP after and I didn't shed a single tear for Dobby. Am I a terrible person? Or maybe I just think elves make good slaves.

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  2. I'm sorry you didnt have the experience you expected when it came to watching HP but i still got to say it was a damn good movie. Saw it last night, and i know what you mean with the annoying people talking (in my case laughing) through it. Regardless, it couldn't steal from how much the movie was made of awesome. =)

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