1960 Córdoba, Argentina
Daniel Vivas
Born in 1952
First movie memories from Córdoba, Argentina, population 738,437
Interviewed on 1/26/19
by Ana de Lezica
I went to the movies for the first time with my brother and sister on a Saturday, after we had had an early lunch. The three of us had been looking forward to Saturday because our parents had decided that we would be taking the bus alone for the first time – like real grown-ups. I must’ve been seven years old, and my siblings were ten and eleven years old. I was so excited. I had to stop myself from jumping up and down as we walked from our house to the bus stop – alone! It was only later on that I found out that my parents had been following our bus in their car all along to make sure we arrived to the movie theater safely, and to check that we were being cautious when crossing the street and whatnot.
When I first got off the bus, I looked up at the movie theater from the sidewalk and remember how immense it seemed. It had huge lit up signs and several people were walking in. We got in line to purchase tickets and I felt so grown-up buying tickets by ourselves. I fantasized about how I would be doing the same thing with my friends in the near future – how I would be one of the teenagers going to the movies soon.
I was in awe of the amount of people there. I wasn’t used to so many people because I lived in the suburbs, and this movie theater was in the very heart of the city. Where I lived, there were mostly houses and shops only lined the main street. But this movie theater was like its own world, with people from all ages and loud chatter filling the space. My brother’s friends met up with us at the movie theater. I’m not sure if it was a chance encounter or not, all I know is I wanted to be one of them.
In those times, screenings consisted of three movies. Because the movie we were there to see – Spartacus – was so long, the screening consisted of only two movies. When we walked into our theater room, the first thing I saw was the screen. It was huge – HUGE – and curved, too! I think this was a CinemaScope movie. We sat towards the middle and waited for the light to dim while chatting animatedly. Above all, I remember my excitement and the great anticipation for the movie. It did not disappoint.
Spartacus was spectacular. I grew up in a religious family with a classical education, so the history that Spartacus dealt with wasn’t alien to my culture and upbringing. I loved that great heroes were fighting against powerful evil. I never thought that a movie could show me an ancient world and its events as if they were happening right now. I was completely immersed in the world of Spartacus. I only remember the great tension I felt during each of the battle scenes and of how badly I wanted the good side to win.
At some point, there was an intermission and most people shuffled out to buy sweets. My parents had given us some money and we were ecstatic about getting to choose for ourselves what we would buy. We got some colorful gummies and several chocolate bars.
I was happy with the movie’s ending, because it concluded exactly how I wanted it to – it was a happy ending. I liked that Spartacus had finally triumphed, and thought that I also wanted to do something grand with my life – just like Spartacus. I never really saw the difference between the character of Spartacus and the actor who portrayed him. For months, maybe even years, after seeing the movie I would role play with my friends and we would pretend that one of us was Spartacus. We would loosely recreate the battle scenes, and also create spin-offs with the movie’s characters. Looking back, I realize that this was a key experience that shaped my childhood.
