CineTV Contest: A TV-lessness film-going experience from the past

In the 90s, I grew up in a devout religious family that didn't allow any television. We kids used to go to our neighbors to watch TV. Cable tv wasn't that prominent at that time either. There was only one channel and that's also the national TV. Most of the programs were utterly boring to us kids. However, it used to show local films each week. I remember watching those with tens or twenties of people. All gathered together, in front of a 14" black and white TV. Nostalghia apart, I don't remember any local movie that rocked me then.

TVs were a rare sight, VCR players were even scarce. But we did have moderate access to them as the owner (neighbors) were gracious enough to let us use their VCR players. They had a catch too, they get to see a free movie and of course, whoever originally wanted to see a movie was the one to pay for the cassette. In hindsight, this would be a preposterous idea now. We hardly visit our neighbors in years, let alone bring a movie to their place to watch. People were more social back then. There was a sense of communal sense that I no longer see in Bangladeshi societies. South Asia has changed a lot.

Anyway, one day I rented an English film for the first time, I was about 10 years old then. I went to the neighbors and watched with some other kids. And... that film was shockingly new to me! Something I have never seen before, something I couldn't even imagine in my wildest dream! Something that rocked my entire world. The film was Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the ring.

Throughout my life, I have seen the LOTR trilogy countless times after that. It is still one of my favorite movie trilogy of all time. It was of course technology ahead of the curve and the story itself by Tolkien is no less than high literature, that had an effect on me as well. Even now, sometimes I go to youtube to see some clips from the trilogy.

Another film that took me by surprise was The Matrix. Of course, its stylist groundbreaking action sequences were a novelty to me, as it was to the rest of the world. Naturally, I didn't understand the philosophical implication of the movie then (or even the story for that matter) and honestly, I couldn't care less about it either. It was the most badass action movie around and I loved it unconditionally. I still do, but for different reasons.

However, there was a reigning champion of action movies that all my friends at school used to talk about. Terminator 2. The perfect villain that relentlessly chased the good guys. The perfect badass action hero. The perfect ending. It had everything.

It's interesting that all of these films were technologically ahead of the competition. They were absolutely flashy, with good enough stories. Perhaps why they reached so many people, even to the clueless young boy of the least developed suburb of Bangladesh.

This post is a submission to CineTV contest: Movies that rocked your childhood.