Friday night I went to the opening of the movie WANTED starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie at SM Mall in Bacolod City of the Philippines. I know, I should have been out exploring the sights and scenes but after walking around in humid weather all day sometimes you just need to sit in an air conditioned room and let your brain melt to the floor for a well-deserved two hours.

It’s really interesting watching an American movie in another country. Not because the people behind me couldn’t zip their mouths shut, but because of what happened before the movie even started.

First of all, I didn’t realize the movie theatre had two different prices. The cheaper price of tickets (75 pesos) were the floor seats in front of the screen, verses the 10 pesos more (85 pesos) we had to pay to sit in the stadium like seats above. Back in the States the only time this happens is if you’re either at a concert or at a sports game. Movies are one of the few things where money does not elevate you into a certain seating area – get there early or sit by the guy chewing really loudly, or sit behind the person with really big hair.

I didn’t see a lot of people sitting in the cheaper area. There were some, but the majority of them were in the 85 pesos seating area.

After the slew of really bad American movie previews were done seeping into my brain the screen flickered and the image of square lit candles appeared. At first I thought it was an ad for one of the local churches. But then all of the people in the theatre stood up! I really thought this was going turn into a giant prayer to bless the movie watching experience. So, I stood up and waited. Turns out, the video wasn’t a religious blessing but a patriotic music video featuring a bunch of Filipino kids, a few Filipino TV stars that I’ve seen early in the morning on the uncle’s TV dressed in white, standing on cliffs singing the Filipino National anthem.

Though I’m told at one point American movie theatres did the same thing, I have no memory of that. Now, the only time movie theatres get ‘patriotic’ is when those army, navy, or marines commercials pop up before the previews.

It was pretty cheesy moment and I really had to bite down hard on my lip when all the TV stars with their hands on their heart looking into the sky facing the sun, because I imagined a huge UFO was hovering overhead.

If you live in the Philippines it probably brings some sort of patriotic comfort to see these sorts of things. I know America has created tons and tons of similar videos, especially after 9-11. It makes people ‘really feel American’ – though I’m still not entirely sure what it means to really feel like an American.

But at the end of the day, no matter where you sit in the movie theatre, how much you pay for your movie ticket, or if you feel moved by your daytime TV show hosts singing the national anthem – we all get in line to watch a Angelina Jolie movie to get a glimpse of her famous, trademark assassin stare.

And in OTHER non-news…

—Eming Piansay