Lap of Luxury

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably aware of a little movie called The Dark Knight. Well, despite Europe’s reputation for being anti-American and especially anti-American culture, the Dark Knight is everywhere here. Every morning I see the Joker’s devious grin or the dark stare of Batman as I catch the subway. Despite being out in North America for about a week, it only started playing here last week. My friends wanted to see it the day it came out, but we were having a party for some of the interns that were going away, so we convinced them to wait a day and we went with them.

We were originally going to see it in Imax, but it wasn’t playing so we went to De Brouckere. We’ve seen a few movies there and in Brussels and Belgium, movie theatres are, for the most part, very similar to North American theatres. The only difference is that they are smaller and the movies have Dutch and French subtitles. But the Dark Knight was an experience. Instead of the usual theatre, we were seated in the “Grande Eldorado.” The word “grande” should have tipped me off. I walked in expecting to find the normal theatre, but found this instead.



It was the most beautiful theater I’ve ever been in. Subtle pot lights added a soft glow to the already lovely golden hue of walls that showed scenes of the ancient South American city famed for being made of gold in what seemed like etchings. Of course they weren’t, but on first glance it was pretty convincing. There were palm trees, elephants (I know you’re thinking, what are elephants doing in South America? But just go with it) and Mayan or Aztec figures dressed in ceremonial garb complete with headdresses. It was pretty fabulous for a movie theatre. But it was also massive. The theatre was easily larger than any I’ve been to in North America. And the chairs were so comfortable. They were like La-Z-Boys, with padding and full arm rests. It was a spectacular experience. As my friend Leandra remarked, “This is how you should watch a movie all the time!”


And the movie wasn’t bad either.