Modern Pirates of the Caribbean

I’ve been meaning to write this up for a long time but kept forgetting. This took place during my CBT training in Arenoso:

One night I was sitting in my room reading when I heard the family shuffle into the living room and start a movie. Movie time equals family time in this family so I finished reading the page I was on and went out to join the movie.
“Cual pelicula es esto?” (What movie is this?) As I sat down. Just then the title came on the screen “Rapido y Furioso” (Fast and the Furious) with some more Spanish written under it that I didn’t have time to read.
Okay great, I thought, one of the F&F movies. Probably number two or three since it had a sub-title. Hopefully not three because that one was really bad.
So the movie started, and within five minutes I was really confused. First off the picture on the movie was bad, it was like a close up of the film. Second of all, I recognized all of the characters but not the storyline. Then it hit me, this is Fast and the Furious 4! Even those in the US it’s only been out in theatres for two weeks, I’m watching it from a DVD in the Dominican Republic? That’s right the DR is full of pirates…with pirated movies.

These movies are not illegal here; they are the norm. On the street corners of at least the two major cities, Santo Domingo and Santiago, you can find pirated movies by the truck-load. The price range is 50 to 100 pesos (which is US $1.50 to $3). All of the movies are already either dubbed in Spanish or have Spanish subtitles. The quality ranges from okay to really bad.

With my family in Arenoso I watched: Fast and the Furious 4, Twilight, Push, and Prom Night. All very new movies.