Weekends are pretty tame here in Maseru. The town has an effective population of about 50,000 and does not have the liveliest cultural scene. There are two movie theaters, however one of them is currently broken with no prospect of being fixed and the other is in one of the city’s “danger zones,” an area prone to muggings, even in broad daylight. This makes it difficult to find people willing to go, though that might also be in part because the hand painted sign proudly proclaims the theater is currently playing a Michelle Pfeiffer movie from the ‘80s. I actually see this as another reason to go, but my friends seem to disagree. Fortunately, I recently discovered a hole in the wall DVD shop with the most eclectic collection. Stocked wholly with Chinese bootlegs, the proprietor buys copies of every DVD that becomes available. Flipping through the selection thus reveals the mainstream stuff you would find in a US Blockbuster, overseas only releases featuring D-list actors*, art house treats like “Grisly Man” and “Once,” and stuff that defies any classification (e.g. “Persian Dance Superstar Extravaganza!”). The owner’s Pakistani, so there is also a healthy stock of Bollywood flicks that I am looking forward to becoming more familiar with in the future.
* - Note to Richard Grieco: You are still big in Lesotho!
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2 comments:
This reminds of a experience I had last week in the Gambia. Peddlers often sell these 15-in-one DVDs with 15 movies on one disc. I picked up one collection entitled Hollywood Modern Classics: every one was Stallone, Steven Segall, or - of course - Dolph Lundgren. I can never forgive Dolph for killing Apollo Creed. Never.
Interesting to hear that the Kingsway Cinema is in the rough part of town - since when was Kingsway dangerous?? robbers know that if they mug a white guy and get caught the police will beat them half to death (police brutality is a big skeleton in Lesotho's closet).
Sea Point is the only dodgy area in Maseru.
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