An Afternoon at the Movies in Panama

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Thanks to an undiagnosed case of attention deficit disorder, I was never able to sit through movies unless they offered a bathroom break somewhere in the middle. On the rare occasion that I'd be dragged in to see a film, I preferred to use the time-barring an exceptional screenplay-to nap in chairs that were at least more comfortable than the ones at school.


While some people saw it as a social disadvantage, I took pride in being the only one at the dinner table who hadn't seen Braveheart. Movies were not really my cup of tea and because of the rise I'd get out of people upon learning this, I eventually upgraded my disinterest to a phobia swearing that movies made me physically ill.

Friends and I would leave the theater all at the same time; them raving about the twisted plot line and amazing special effects, me still aggravated that a box of stale Skittles could cost six dollars. My thoughts were not unlike those that ran through my head during the boring mornings in synagogue, trying to think of anything, anything to complain about.

"That theater was cold" I remembered commenting after seeing a popular film about a big mobster and his posse. It was a movie that would eventually win every award possible in the industry, yet all I remember from the afternoon was that I should have brought my coat. When brought up in a social gathering, I'll refer to the picture as oh, the cold one.

As I grew up, the process of going to the movies was made even less appealing thanks to a universal decision by theaters around the country to increase their prices for popcorn. I envisioned a martian man showing up at the local Cineplex and mistaking the $12 popcorn kernels for packaging-as if styrofoam peanuts-used to cushion something valuable and rare. The final straw was when the price of a quarter gumball was raised to fifty cents and the traditional glass-and-metal machine had been replaced by a curvy spaceship-looking device. This change, while less financially offensive, was symbolic of the movie going experience to me.

Old people in the states liked to talk about the days when movies only cost a nickel. And while I honestly doubted that was ever the case, I do believe that the experience of going to the movies was once a pure and unpolluted one. One not tainted by annoying trailers or interrupted by obnoxious cell phones. And I believe this because some of my faith has been restored by that which we have in Panama.

Panama has a number of theaters that are as nice as those you have at home, and one that's even nicer: it's called Extreme Planet and it takes the movie going experience to the next level. Upon first hearing the name, I figured Extreme Planet was some sort of eco-park, perhaps where a visitor could see the world's nearly-extinct animals in recuperation mode. But boy was I wrong. The VIP area of Extreme Planet (located next to Bennigans on Avenida Balboa) is composed of several large theaters with giant la-z-boy recliners set up stadium style. For $6 you also get delivery service of the traditional (candy, popcorn, soda), as well as the exotic (sushi, hamburgers, and entire bottles of liquor complete with mixers and ice).

Other cinemas in Panama cost as little as $2 and show movies all in English; a deal that's hard to pass up. And whether you like going to the movies or not, doing so in Panama is a nice change of pace from that which you probably experience at home. As a result, I've brushed up on my movie know-how and enjoyed a number of flicks, identifying finally, with my friends who appeared to figure this out long before I did.