Into Great Silence...or not....

I sat on a woman in a movie theater once.

This is the sort of thing folks forget about after the thing is over, but I was discussing the movie with a group of people earlier today and the memory dropped right in front of me and I just had to share.

Just as a preface, the film Into Great Silence is a strikingly beautiful film about a monastery in France.  The cinematography is stunning and the life of the monks is also a luminous look at contemplation and prayer as a way of life.  The film is very quiet and has no music (other than singing), no stunning special effects, and very little talking.  On a large cinema screen in the dark theater, it was mesmerizing.  It is fairly long, though - three hours or so - which means that on a laptop or on a sunny day, it would probably tend towards the tedious side if you weren't already interested in beautiful cinematography or in the life of monks.  (If you're interested in learning more about it - which I heartily recommend that you do - please follow this link: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=intogreatsilence)

So, all that having been said, my mother, brother, and I all decided to go see this film in this artsy little theater that shows foreign films or off-the-beaten-path type things.  We arrived 5-10 minutes late and so had to scurry to try to find seats in a very dark and even more quiet theater.  I headed for the front, believing that there would surely be more seats up there...and there are.  With an inaudible sigh of relief I plop down into the nearest one...and nearly hit the proverbial roof when a woman that has apparently also chosen this seat screams bloody murder.  I drop to my knees and scuttle away in the darkness. 

It truly is such a quiet, contemplative movie...and the incongruity of it all (I mean, what kind of person sits on another person in a movie theater?) just makes me laugh.  Hope it does the same for you.

Buona notte!