where: EDWARDS FAIRFIELD STADIUM 16 & I-MAX in Fairfield, CA
when: Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
show: 9:25 p.m.
costs: $11.00 Ticket + $1.00 medium Popcorn ( Dollar upgrade on a Free Small Popcorn on my Regal Movie Watcher Rewards Card ) + $4.75 small Diet Coke = $16.75
auditorium: 13
seat: 5th row, Seat 5
synopsis/overview: This movie is based on a true story about a small group of prisoners who escaped from a Siberian gulag sometime in the early part of WWII and walked 4,000 miles to freedom.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Drummed-up charges; 2.) "Siberia is your prison"; 3.) "Kindness, that can kill you here"; 4.) Sweater; 5.) Old folk remedy; 6.) "They will die free men; 7.) Forest shelter; 8.) Down in the mine; 9.) Escape; 10.) Tree bark; 11.) "Grateful is for dogs"; 12.) "South, to Lake Baikal"; 13.) "Three to four weeks"; 14.) "I don't eat fish"; 15.) Night blindness; 16.) Meat; 17.) Scout; 18.) The lake; 19.) The follower; 20.) Deer; 21.) Irena ( Saoirse Ronan ); 22.) Soap; 23.) Shave; 24.) Crossing the lake; 25.) Parents; 26.) "We've had enough lies"; 27.) "It's my birthday"; 28.) Campfire song; 29.) Mosquito repellent; 30.) Blistered foot; 31.) Crucifix; 32.) "Thank you, Mother Russia"; 33.) Good luck and goodbye; 34.) "They're communists"; 35.) Buddhist temple; 36.) Himalayas; 37.) "Double the salt"; 38.) Horsemen; 39.) "That's south"; 40.) "We're already dying"; 41.) "Mirages don't have birds"; 42.) "It was a miracle finding this. Can we count on another"; 43.) Sandstorm; 44.) Small stones; 45.) Sunstroke; 46.) "It's okay"; 47.) "You look worse"; 48.) Snake; 49.) "Tastes like chicken"; 50.) Punishment; 51.) "I have to get back"; 52.) Great Wall of China; 53.) Tibet; 54.) Lhasa; 55.) "I'll cook his chicken"; 56.) "He's gone"; 57.) Passport; and 58.) Back home again.
audience reaction: The audience liked this movie. And a man in the audience said, "That was good."
recommendation: I liked this movie, too. It is a testament to the triumph of the indomitable spirit of man in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Go see this inspirational movie.
spoiler alert! The one who suffered from night blindness should have kept on calling out his comrades' names. It would have been safer had they crossed the frozen part of the lake while laying flat on their bellies, Penguin-style ( plain, simple Physics ). Valka ( Colin Farrell ) killed the dog, but why didn't he take it with him since they all could use all the meat that they could get their hands on? They could have done certain things to help the sun stroke victims. They should have known better than to walk across the desert in the blazing sun when it would have made more sense to do so at night when the temperature was much cooler. Of course, these observations of mine are negated by the fact that this movie is based on a true story; and I don't know how much of it is truth-based and how much of it is made-up stuff for dramatic purposes.
fyi: The best way to keep from getting dehydrated fast in the desert is to keep one's mouth shut. I learned this in my Cultural Anthropology class.
Lake Baikal is the oldest and deepest lake in the whole wide world. And the locals believe that Jesus Christ visited and blest this area.
The Buryats are the indigenous people of Lake Baikal, shown in the movie with mosquito repellents. You probably have heard of one of them: The late Hollywood actor, Yul Brynner ( born in 1920 as Yuliy Borisovich Bryner ), was part Buryat.
word of advice: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." New Testament, Matthew 26:41
tidbits: When the concessions clerk asked me if I wanted to upgrade my free popcorn to a medium "for just a dollar more," I foolishly said, Yes. I of all people should know better than to get more popcorn than I can eat while writing down notes on a movie that I'm watching. Never again--despite what Justin Bieber has to say about it in his upcoming movie!
On Thursday, somebody told me that Wal-Mart is laying-off people because business is slow even for the mega-box, cut-throat retail monopoly. Boy! talk about bad economy. Curious about it, I swung by the new Wal-Mart Super Center in Fairfield after watching this movie. It was a minute past midnight when I walked in through their doors. I saw more employees than I did customers. I went there to buy some rotisserie chicken, but they were out of if because, I guess, the rotisserie staff was cut back.
So I went to Food Max supermarket on West Texas in Fairfield. They didn't have rotisserie chicken, either!
Now, what was I supposed to do with that big pot of rice that I cooked just a few hours before and which was eagerly anticipating the arrival of some rotisserie chicken to tango with in my mouth? One last chance ....
When I got back to Vallejo, I made a bee-line for the Food-4-Less supermarket. The patron saint of rotisserie chicken cravers--would that be Col. Sanders--had answered my prayer: Half a dozen rotisserie chickens to choose from. Hallelujah! Third time's a charm. I was happy and, more importantly, my tummy was happy.
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