“So, when was the last time you saw a 3D movie?” I asked them trying to make some light conversation.
A little puzzled by the question, “Never,” Humaid answered in a thick Middle Eastern accent.
“Really? Howwa ‘bout an IMAX movie? Are you familiar with IMAX?” I asked them.
“Uh?.... What is IMAX meaning?” Saeed asked in a sheepish, somewhat broken, naïve tone.
“Ah, man! It’s a really, big, huge screen,” I tried to explain while making sweeping hand gestures and accidentally nudged the fella next to me. “I’m really, sorry,” I grinned at him, unable to contain my excitement.
“It’s ah-right,” the New Englander smiled back as his wife chimed in, “Yeah, ‘dis is like ah concert. Some lady ah-ready yelled at us for breaking in line.”
“I saw people scalping tickets out front.”
“Da only thing missin’ is beeah.”
“They have beer,” I quickly interjected and motioned to the concession stand.
Without hesitation, the husband scurried through the packed lobby to the popcorn line like an overeager teenager to pick up two Buds in a bottle.
“This is really crazy, uh.” I said to the wife while her husband was paying for the beer. “I teach English at Northeastern, and I’m here with a few of my students. They’ve never even heard of U2.”
The woman looked a little befuddled and then, clearly as excited as I was, peered over my shoulder to my students and blurted out, “Ya guys are gonna love it! I heaah the Edge’s guitar comes off da screen and ya can almost touch it!”
Blank stares.
Just then, the happy husband came back and handed his honey a beer.
I seized the chance to ask my students another question, “Do ya’ll drink beer?”
“No… never,” Humaid said stoically.
“Ah… only wine,” I joked, which drew a couple nervous smiles and shifty glances from them just as the theater doors opened and the line started to snake through the lobby.
“Say,” the happy husband began, “ where are you guys from?”
Saeed and Humaid replied almost in unison, “We’re from Dubai.”
“Oh… I know where that is. It’s…. ahhhh….. ummmm…. United ….. Emirates…..” his unassured voice trailed off as the orderly cue crept forward. “That’s a rich country.”
“Yes… we have oil,” Humaid said dubiously.
I was happy to see my students engage in a spontaneous conversation, but as soon as we crossed the threshold of the theater doors, my focus shifted to the scamble for seats as close to center as we could get.
Not long after getting situated in front of the 65-foot screen, we got two big thumbs up from the beer drinking couple two rows behind us.
The lights went down, the screen popped out, and the surround sound cranked up.
After a couple songs, the leather clad Bono began sporting a CoExisT headband while banging a snare drum to the opening march of Sunday Bloody Sunday. As he began to ask the question, “How long must we sing this song?” water droplets came flying off the screen and the oceans of 3D people in the crowd waved and melded into the theater audience almost seamlessly.
Humaid leaned over to me and whispered, “It’s like truth.”
I grinned ear to ear.
In Humaid's limited English ability, he just said a whole lot.
I sat back in my chair and thought to myself, "Peace be with Bono and you too."
