Deux Jours A Tuer (two days to kill)

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I just saw a really great film about a man who is going to die (late-stage cancer) and therefore sabotages his own life. It was a really good film. I really enjoyed it. I had a kind of a bad day—we all did, the whole troupe, and so I spent the day alone just sort of wandering the city. I ended up at the movie theater all alone watching this movie. It was the perfect movie at that moment, because in fact I myself had two days to kill: we had two days off from rehearsal.

The event of the movie, though, was a man who made a manifestation (protest) by sitting in reverse on the seat backing up to a row of seats right in the center of the theater. He had asked the couple in the front row of the second section to move over one seat to either side, since they had one empty seat on either side of them. They had the best seats in the theater. The couple (initiated by the man) refused, and so the other man (a bald, fairly tall guy) sat there, obstructing their view of the screen. It caused quite a scene, until finally the gentleman seated exited the theater to go tell the theater about it. He returned with someone (the manager I assume) who began arguing with gentleman staging the protest to leave. The argument ensued several minutes into the previews. The man would not budge. He was determined. Finally during the third preview, he finally conceded and took a seat off to the side. Interesting!! And it was so non-american—no loud words, very civilized. No violence and no (audible) threats. I wonder....would this happen in the US? It seemed to me to be so stubborn on the part of both guys. I was trying to put myself in both guys' shoes, and I think in either case I would a) move over to give up the seats or b) give up my protest and sit somewhere else. Could I categorize this as 'French' behavior? The French do love to go on strike.........

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