musing on the israeli cinema experience

The cinema in J'lem is above a mall with no shops. You get there and collect your ticket from a tiny window; you do not want to try this in a wheelchair as it would be logistically impossible. Then you wait outside a set of large glass doors, through which you can look at the shop part; this sells popcorn, drinks, posters, you know, the usual.

You aren't allowed IN to this area until fifteen minutes before your film starts, there is a man with a gun on the door to keep you out.

It would seem, to me, to make sense to let people into the area with the shop, so that they can be bored with their money in a shopping area.

Perhaps it's because it's Israel, and people would probably try and sneak into other screens to watch the ends of other people's films.