Movie Night

When you’re a stranger somewhere, everything turns out to be a learning event. It can be pretty taxing at times, and downright exhilarating at others. Actually, in Russia it can be both at the same time. And sometimes they happen when you least expect – like during a simple trip to the movies.

I went to the recently renovated October Theater on Novy Arbat with my colleague Nathan. Our goal was to see the new movie sweeping Russia, a massively successful and lauded film that’s yet another statement that the Russian entertainment industry is finding its own voice. The movie is called Devyata Rota – or Ninth Company. It centers on one small group of soldiers’ experiences from training to battle during the Soviet Union’s Afghan war.

It was a somewhat standard war movie. As such, it had the expected haircut scene, the drill sergeant’s speech, the anguished weeping in the field, the transition from youth to man in the context of what may become an abbreviated life, etc. It was all well done, mind you, with touching moments of humor and cringe-inducing violence. It’s just that there wasn’t much of a groundbreaking statement on the nature of war like many earlier, Soviet movies. World War II movies like Ballada Soldata had a heartrending combination of duty and sacrifice and doom and sorrow that leaves you an emotional puddle by the end.

Nathan was a particularly good partner to see Ninth Company with, since he covered our Afghan war as a journalist. Also, he’s highly fluent in Russian and I figured he’d be able to explain what I missed. I missed plenty, as expected, and we both struggled mightily with the slang and soldier’s jargon.

But I think we both learned a lot of other things during the evening. For example, where you sit is no random exercise; seats are assigned by row and place. The ticket agent asked if we wanted VIP or regular seats. The difference is 50 rubles, and VIP seats are in the center of the theater while standard seats are on the fringes of the seating area. All told, the ticket came to 250 rubles, or about $9 and not much different from the US.

There were other big differences, though. Patrons are allowed to bring their own refreshments as well as buy from the concession; which means that most people brought in beer from the kiosk just outside the theater doors. There are a few previews before the movie, but no public service announcements – most notably, no reminder to turn off cellphones. Out of habit, I flipped mine off. I must have been the only one. Not only did cellphones ring throughout the movie, but it’s apparently perfectly acceptable to answer them! My neighbor to the left answered his phone several times.
“Hello? I’m at the movies. Devyata Rota. Yeah, it’s really good. There’s a great scene in basic training when…”
BOOM!
“…oh, cool. Listen, call me back in a few minutes.”
And his friend did call back to hear about what was so cool that it interrupted their conversation.

I suppose I could have told him to quiet down, but in general you don’t really cast sidelong glances at a guy who brought 5 beers to a 2 hour movie.