bastardi senza gloria

Five of us went to see Inglourious Basterds at the Cinema Metropolitan in Piazza del Popolo last night. I had made sure beforehand that it was going to be an English-language (versione originale) showing, because three people in our group had never seen it before. We got to the cinema at about 19.00, got our tickets, and then wandered around outside in the shopping district for a little bit, waiting until they would let us into the auditorium. The place was pretty much like an American theater. Ticket prices were just about the same, €7.50 for an evening ticket. The only major differences were that there was no age restriction on seeing the movie -- just a warning about the violence, taped on the box office window -- and we had assigned seating. And there was a restaurant/bar actually inside the theater, serving gelato and mixed drinks. I can understand why people complain about our American concession stands now.

About thirty seconds into the film, I realized that I'd made kind of a big oversight. Two-thirds of Inglourious Basterds is subtitled even in the "English-language" version, because the dialogue is -- accurately enough -- mostly in French and German. And when the subtitles popped up on the screen, they weren't in English. They were in Italian. (The English parts were still in English, which was apparently enough to make this the English-language showing.) I felt pretty dumb for a little bit. Then the other girl who'd seen it before suggested that we switch seats around so that she and I could explain what was going on, line-by-line, to the people who had not seen it before. So that's what we ended up doing. We whisperingly translated a two-and-a-half-hour-long film in the middle of a packed theater. I think we did it quietly enough that it wasn't too much of a bother. Nobody told us to shut up, at least. I just feel kind of bad because Basterds is one of those movies where the dialogue is really important, and my rough translation just couldn't capture a lot of it.

Even with all of that craziness, we had a good time. Everyone in our group loved the movie, and the Italian audience was really into it too. They gave it an ovation at the end. The scene where Aldo Raine attempts to speak Italian ("Bahn-JOR-no", "GRAH-zee") was so much funnier here than it was in the States. There weren't just a few snorts or chuckles, like there was back home. Everyone in the audience was laughing out loud and clapping. And the Italian woman sitting beside me was particularly amused when Bridget Von Hammersmark exasperatedly asks the Basterds if Americans can speak any other language than English -- obviously, this woman's experience was that we can't. Sad but true.

All-in-all, it was a welcome break from neorealism. :)