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The are not showing the film in my city, so after reading all the posts and reports on DU ... by Sunday afternoon I just couldn't take it any more and decided to drive to Birmingham with my girlfriend (I'm a guy btw) to see it.
Since it’s almost a full two hour drive we had to do some rushing to get ready.. eat an early dinner, gas up the car, etc etc.
I bought tickets online for the 8pm show.. We made good time getting there and actually arrived 30-45 minutes early. After it started pouring rain we went ahead and went into the theater a good 30 min before the movie started.
It was in the big screen room (sign at the door said seating for 469) and it was less than half full (maybe 30-35%). There was a good mix of whites, blacks and people of all ages, but was surprised to see a lot of younger people (18-25 range).
Then a slow but steady flow came in, I was starting to think it wasn’t going to be anywhere near filled and then starting about 10 minutes before a lot of folks started filing in.. probably ended up with about 80% full in a very big room.
The movie was fantastic.. In my opinion it was presented in a much more serious way when compared to other Moore documentaries.
The crowd was not what I would call rowdy, but there were a lot of parts when people applauded, lots of laughter at times. The biggest crowd reaction was when Moore narrating asked 'why did Bush just sit there for over seven minutes' and during the pause some guy yelled out 'because he's an idiot' .. And the crowd went nuts with applause.
There is a lot in this film.. A lot to digest and I really haven't had a chance to take it all in yet (you'll see why below). I cant speak for a Republican or Bush supporter, but if you are a Democrat who is not active and get all your news from tv and your newspaper.. There are going to be a lot of things that you never knew about Bush and the government since he took power.
We left the theater not long after 10pm and stopped at the nearest convenience store to stock up on beverages and snacks for the late drive home.
This theater is on the lower south side of Birmingham and we are heading north. After driving back thru downtown BHM, about 5 miles north of the suburbs there is a rattle from the engine. I turn the radio off and after a couple minutes trying to figure out what the noise is, the engine basically just blows.
The car pretty much dies, its clanking, we are going up an incline and I was already going slow to try to figure out what was wrong, and barely have enough steam left to get the car off the road before we stop.
First thing I notice is we are already out of BHM, theres nothing around.. And when I open the hood in the pitch dark you could see the steel on the front of the block glowing it was so hot!
This is bad news. While trying to find a flashlight to check out the engine, we are so close to the highway that truckers and big suvs are actually making the car sway when the blast by.
Waited for a break in cars and got the drivers (highway side door) open so we could push the thing a little (up-hill) to get it over some.
The car is toast (threw a rod I think?). My girlfriend has a cell but its low on batteries, we called two people and neither answered, then I realized we don’t even know what mile marker we are at.
All the while our car is there with the hood up (I was hoping to cool the engine to maybe try for an exit).
After a while of being on the side of a dark highway, late at night, with the hood up .. the more I thought about it the more I didn’t like it.
I checked the engine and it doesn’t look good, its toast. My gf's cell is running low sooo .. There was an exit a little less than 1/2 mile behind us so decided we should walk back there and find a regular phone, help, or at least find out what the hell mile marker we are at.
My girlfriend asks if we should lock up the car before leaving, and I'm like .. Theres nothing in it but chips and snacks, what are they going to do, drive off with a broken down car??
What I'm really thinking is there are a lot a cars screaming by on this dark highway, that hood being up is pretty much a bulls-eye, if I ever wanted a gun this would be a good time to have one.
Anyway, we are walking up the side of the damn highway, and as we get closer to the exit ramps I notice by the car lights on the other side that there are none of the normal signs.. You know, the ones that list the gas stations or food joints for that exit.
We get a little closer, and I cant see everything because of trees, but its pretty damn apparent that there is NOTHING at this exit. No stores, nothing.
We go a little further and its looking like the worst is true and trying to figure out what our next move should be. Finally told my girlfriend that we should just turn around, go back to the car and make the best of her cell phone time left.
We go walking back a few minutes and then a mid-size suv (Blazer?) pulls over on the shoulder about 100 feet in front of us. My girlfriend says I should talk to them first, I agree and walk ahead of her.
I'm still trying to register, because they really did stop fast, the guy almost swerved and came to a real hard stop ahead of us.
Not sure what to expect, or even if I should be the one to walk up to his window first.. The guy jumps out of the car and it’s a black guy who comes around and meets me when I get to about 25 feet behind his truck and says ..'Hey do you need some help?'.
Reason I say he is black is because this is the heart of Alabama and I am on the side of the road and VERY white (it’s a minor detail, but everything does factor in when you are stranded)
I said something like 'yeah, well sorta' .. The cab light was still on in his car so while talking I'm looking.. trying to see how many people are in this new car off the highway.. and who all is in it.
There is only one other person in the passenger seat, so I walk forward to try to see who this guy is and what is going on here. I told him something about triple A or something until we could get closer to his car and then when walking up saw it’s a woman in the passenger.
He says he would be glad to give us a ride, and after looking around best I can tell they seem legit, so I go lock up the car and he even helps me push it off the road some more.
I get back to their car and in the middle of the night with all the highway traffic wizzing by, before getting in this car of strangers on the highway..
Call me crazy, but just as a qualifier, before getting in the car I wanted to know what they were doing to help, where are we going? ...
So I asked them if they were from around here and did they know a place they could drop us off for a phone or help..
The girl pipes up 'oh, we are from the same town you are, we saw your tag on the car and knew'
The next (very hesitant) question was .. 'so instead of the next store, can we ride with you to get back home?'
.. 'Well of course, that’s why we stopped.'
I could have kissed the woman!!
We load up in the car and the guy takes off almost as fast as he stopped.
We exchange hellos and after a little talking, turns out they had already passed us. They knew we lived in the same city (You can tell where you are from on the license tag numbers in Alabama) .. SO after seeing our car they went to the next exit, turned around and came back, then they turned around again at the next exit to come back up and help us.
I just couldn’t believe it when they told us, it was like shock. If you don’t believe there are good people out there then you are just flat WRONG.
Right after that, we exchanged polite conversation .. What do you do, where do you work at? ... Turns out the man driving is a 6th grade school teacher.
A little later, still in amazement, I asked then why did you go to all that trouble to stop, turn around, and come back and help us.. The woman answered "oh, well you know, sometimes you just feel like helping people out".
We had a good hour and half ride, and after about 30-45 minutes it got quiet (its after 1am now) and I started thinking about the movie. And how Moore was talking about fear, about how the Bush admin always uses fear.. with the terror alerts, and how they use that for political reasons to keep people afraid.
If you havent seen Bowling for Columbine you should, because there is a lot more in there about fear and how the media is always using it to scare people.
Sitting in the back seat of the new strangers who saved us from being stranded on the highway all night. I had a lot of thoughts to reflect on during the last hour of that trip and realized everything we are told is wrong.
Sometime after 1am Chris and his wife dropped me and my girlfriend off in the driveway of my front yard. I offered him money for gas, a check, anything I could think of and he refused all of the above.
Regardless of what you are told by the tv, America has the greatest people in the world if they would just let us be ourselves.
Finally being home, standing on the front porch in the middle of the night and waving goodbye to Chris and his wife driving off was the best feeling in the world.
We should all be that lucky,
Best
Kelley
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