* Like the song goes … video killed the radio star. Furthermore,
video and DVDs killed the cinema here in Nădlac.
  There is one building in this town that has drawn my interest
more than any other. That building is the old Nădlac movie
theatre.

               

  I don’t why, maybe it is the romanticism of an old theatre and
the stories it could tell of a bygone era before TV and DVD
players. People with whom I questioned about the history of
the old cinema, told me of a time where there were people on
the streets at night. That is not the way it is here in town now.
At night it's pretty 'ghost townish' with a random person here
and there.
  The change makes sense, with the amenities of technology,
TVs, DVDs, iPods and computers it appears that the need to
'get out' has dimished . Sounds familiar, huh?
  As my father would say … ‘and they call that progress‘?
  What impresses me most is the building itself. Maybe it isn’t
as spectacular looking as theatres go, but it really fits the town‘s
personality. 
  I have asked if it was possible that I could go inside and take a
few pictures with an intent of absorbing a “Phantom of the Cinema’
moment. Regrettably the person that has the keys is in the
Capitol (they think).

     

  So I will have to tell you what was told to me. It has about 150
to 200 seats. It was expanded sometime during the 50’s. They
had a little snack bar and they sold the normal sodas … etc.
The schedule was the showing of a children’s movie from
6 to 8 p.m. and one for the adults from 8 to 10 p.m. It
was a PG theatre. No one seemed to be able to pinpoint the
time of it’s opening but it seems somewhere around WWII.
Likewise no one could exactly say the time of it’s closing.
  The young woman that works at the coffee shop mentioned
that she remembers seeing the movie Anaconda there. It was
one of the last movies that was shown. Anaconda came out in
1997 so it has been at least 10 years.

     

  As I walk by I can almost see the posters advertising the
movies on either side of the door. I swear that when I go by
there at night I can hear the sound of a movie playing and
smell the aroma of buttered popcorn floating through the air.
  I guess for me it goes back to that romanticism thing again.
I haven’t exactly figured out yet why this building impresses
me so.
  Maybe I have seen too many movies of how an old dying
theatre has been like the biblical Lazarus, returned from the
dead. Maybe it is a dream that the movie theatre in Nădlac
would come back to life and flourish with social interaction.
  I know that times change and I am one for change.I also
understand that time waits for no one.
  Despite noble dreams and a losing battle against technology, I
don’t believe that it could ever be a case of … ’rebuild it and they
will come’. It had it’s time and served it’s purpose.
  I do love technology and through my Peace Corps experiences
I have learned to live with or without it.  But I have seen and
experienced more society in places without electricity. The biggest 
downfall to technology is, that despite the fact that it has great
tools like email and instant messaging (communication), it lacks
that human touch.
 If we think we do or do not,we do have a need for face to face 
social interaction.
 So likewise as video killed the radio star. It appears that there
was collateral damage here in Nădlac. Having it all at home has
reduced the need to go out and socialize . I thinks that my
father’s saying was right … and they call that progress.