1951 Puebla, México

Carlos E. Olivares

1951

Puebla, México

Interviewed on September 6th, 2019

by Abnner Olivares

The first movie I ever watched must have been at some point in my early 20’s. Looking back at it now, I think the movie was called Dogs because I very vividly remember coming out of the movie paranoid that my neighbor’s dog would try to kill me. I had never even heard of the idea of killer dogs before watching this movie and I think that’s why it left such a great impression on me. 

I was living in Puebla, Mexico on the outskirts of the city. There were fields everywhere and in many ways, some of the scenery in the movie looked like my own town so I think that also added to my fear after watching this movie. I had never gone to the movie theater before because my parents never let me leave the house alone so my first time going was also my first taste of freedom as I was on my own. I had just left home with the girl I intended to marry and so my first movie theater experience coincided with these sorts of new beginnings for me. 

I was a student when I went to go watch Dogs. The school was in the city and so whenever I would get out of class, I would always see crowds of other students around the movie theater but I just never had the opportunity to go because the commute took so long and the busses passed so infrequently that I was sure to make it home past midnight if I stayed and watched a movie. 

What was also really interesting about this movie theater was that movie theater was connected to a bunch of local stands that sold food. I remember the place was called  “El Merendero” because I had gone there so often to eat but never to watch a movie. They had food such as mole and chiles rellenos and it was a popular place to go grab a bite after your classes. I wish they had more places like now instead of just plain old popcorn and soda. I also remember that when I went into the movie theater for the first time, they had my favorite type of chocolate! It was called “Carlos Five” chocolate but we called it “Carlos V” because they used the “v” instead of the actual numerical number. The ticket was relatively cheap, I think about 10-19 pesos. So after buying my ticket I bought a whole lot of Carlos V’s and enjoyed my movie. 

It’s funny because when I was buying my ticket, I kept thinking back to this funny story that my father used to tell me about the old man who kept on going back to the ticket window and buying the same ticket for the same movie over and over again. The man at the ticket window finally stopped the old man and asked him, “Why do you keep buying the same ticket over and over again!?” and the old man responds, “because the guy at the entrance keeps ripping it!”. 

I don’t actually remember the ending of this movie but all I know is that I never went back to watch it again because it scared me so much. It definitely left a lasting impression on me and I knew that it would be something I was gonna remembered for the rest of my life. I haven’t been back to Mexico in a really long time but I think it’d be nice to revisit the theater if I ever do get the chance to make the trip. Nowadays, the only time I watch movies like that is when you take me to one but I think it’d be nice to try watching one on my own again. Who knows, maybe I’ll even try watching Dogs again.