By Leslie Gray Streeter

The thing that kept going through Barbara Latimer’s mind Tuesday night while watching Michael Jackson’s “This Is It,” was how amazing the movie’s rehearsal footage was.

“He just kept practicing, doing the same things over and over again,” Latimer marveled, after a special screening of the film at the Muvico Parisian at CityPlace, culled from footage of the preparation for the singer’s never-realized series of concerts in London last summer.

“What a fantastic show it would have been!” Latimer said. “It makes me sad.”

Jackson, 50, died June 25th in Los Angeles, just a week before he and his crew, which included West Palm Beach dancer Kriyss Grant, were headed to London for dress rehearsals. The film, directed by Kenny Ortega, was released at midnight, and is playing at 7 Palm Beach County theaters, including the Parisian. The screening featured a performance by West Palm Beach dance studio Sean’s Dance Factory and a Michael Jackson dance-alike contest.

While “This Is It” was expected to be a sell-out around the country, traffic was light for the midnight show at CityPlace, with no lines. However, several hundred showed up for the special screening at 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, which packed one of the facility’s larger theaters, from which several people were turned away because of lack of space. The ones who did make it into the screening said they weren’t disappointed.

“Wow!” said a momentarily speechless Angela Glad of Ft. Lauderdale. “It was a real depiction of the man, who saw the bigger picture and knew what the world could be.”

Radiance Harvey, of Boynton Beach, said that she found “This Is It” both “amazing and heartbreaking. During (the song) ‘Human Nature,’ I was amazed by (Jackson’s) purity of voice. I saw him as a human being for the first time.”

Harvey, an entertainer, said that the movie also helped her identify with Jackson as a performer, in a humanizing, humorous light – “He reminded me of every ambiguous direction I’ve ever gotten from a director, when he (directed the musicians) to ‘Let it simmer,’ and you’re like ‘What does that mean?’ I’ve had people say ‘Give me less, and more.’ (Jackson) was just like that!”