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The Terminal


A Steven Spielberg movie
  • LIFE
  • Life Desk
  • Published: 26 May 2021, 03:13 PM

The Terminal is a 2004 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stanley Tucci. The film is about an Eastern European man who is stuck in New York's John F. Kennedy Airport terminal when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time is unable to return to his native country because of a military coup.

The film is partially inspired by the true story of the 18-year stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in Terminal 1 of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.[2] After finishing his previous film, Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg decided to direct The Terminal because he wanted to next make a film "that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world". Due to a lack of suitable airports willing to provide their facilities for the production, an entire working set was built inside a large hangar at the LA/Palmdale Regional Airport, with most of the film's exterior shots taken from the Montréal–Mirabel International Airport. The film was released in North America on June 18, 2004 to mildly positive reviews and was a commercial success, earning $219 million worldwide.

Just as mild-mannered Viktor Navorski touches down at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, he learns that his native Krakozhia (a small, Eastern European republic created for the movie) has suffered a military coup. For all intents and purposes, it no longer exists. Consequently, Viktor’s passport is invalid and he can’t legally set foot on U.S. soil. And since there isn’t a country to which to return him, he’s stuck in the airport with barely enough understanding of English to find a men’s room.

A self-serving bureaucrat named Frank Dixon tells the visitor he has fallen through a small crack in the system (“You are, at this time, simply unacceptable”). Dixon hands Viktor a few meal vouchers, a pager and a 15-minute phone card, and tells him to hang out in the international transit lounge. Indefinitely. Days turn into weeks. Weeks become months. Gate 67 becomes Viktor’s home. While making the best of a horrendous situation (and making friends along the way), this kindhearted, resourceful “man without a country” becomes a local hero … and a pebble in Dixon’s shoe.

As always, Hanks is terrific. And, as Dixon, Stanley Tucci breathes life into scenes which manage to combine both tension and humor. Unfortunately, Catherine Zeta-Jones sucks the joy out of the room as Amelia. She’s OK in the role, but it’s disappointing to see Viktor take a romantic interest in this pretty flight attendant with a thing for other women’s husbands. Like Viktor, Amelia is essentially living in airports and going nowhere. But she’s a much sadder case, mired in sin and unwilling to rise above her bad situation. Because she’s having an affair with a married man, we know she’s trouble and can’t bring ourselves to root for Viktor to get too close. Heartache is as certain as the announcement to return our seats to an upright and locked position. Sure, there’s a point to this bittersweet subplot (Proverbs 26:11 comes to mind), but sitting through the lesson isn’t terribly entertaining or uplifting. That and the profanity are turbulence on an otherwise pleasant flight.


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