''The Terminal'' is a 2004 American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film produced and directed by
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
and starring
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
,
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed C ...
, and
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...
. The film is about an
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
an man who is stuck in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
's
John F. Kennedy Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...
terminal when he is denied entry to 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
Mehran Karimi Nasseri ( fa, مهران کریمی ناصری pronounced ; 1945 – 12 November 2022), also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 A ...
in Terminal 1 of
Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...
, France, from 1988 to 2006.
In 1988, Nasseri flew from Brussels to London via Paris; however, he was sent back to Paris because he lost his refugee passport. Nasseri lived in the transit area of Terminal 1 at Paris-Charles de Gaulle until 2006, after France denied him entry. After finishing his previous film, ''
Catch Me If You Can
''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James ...
'', 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
: ''See: United States Air Force Plant 42 for the United States Government use of the facility''
Palmdale Regional Airport is an airport in Palmdale, California, United States. The city of Palmdale took over the airport at the end of 2013, mana ...
, with most of the film's exterior shots taken from the
Montréal–Mirabel International Airport
Montréal–Mirabel International Airport , originally called Montréal International Airport, widely known as Mirabel and branded as YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel (''YMX Aérocité internationale de Mirabel''), is a cargo and former i ...
.
The film was released in North America on June 18, 2004, to generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, earning $219 million worldwide.
Plot
Viktor Navorski, a traveler from the fictional country of Krakozhia, arrives at New York's
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...
and learns that a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
has occurred back home. The United States does not recognize Krakozhia's new government, and Viktor is not permitted to enter the United States or return home as his passport is no longer considered valid. Because of this,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilit ...
seize his passport and return ticket pending resolution of the issue. He becomes a refugee and is forced to live at the airport.
Frank Dixon, the Acting Field Commissioner of the airport, instructs Viktor to stay in the transit lounge until the issue is resolved. Viktor settles in at the terminal with only his luggage and a
Planters
Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentil ...
peanut can. Viktor finds a gate currently under renovation and makes it his home. All the while, Dixon is determined to get Viktor out of the airport and make him someone else's problem. He tries to get Viktor to leave by luring him out of the airport by ordering guards away from the exit for five minutes, but it fails. Dixon then tries to get Viktor to claim asylum if he is fearful of returning home, so he can leave the airport, but it also fails due to Viktor claiming that he is not scared of his own country. Meanwhile, Viktor befriends and assists several airport employees and travelers. Among them is a
flight attendant
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
named Amelia Warren, whom he sees periodically and tries to woo after she mistakes him for a building contractor who is frequently traveling. Dixon, who is being considered for a promotion, becomes more and more obsessed with getting rid of Viktor. In the meantime, Viktor begins reading books and magazines to learn English. After he impulsively remodels a wall in the renovation zone, he is hired by an airport contractor and paid under the table.
One day, Dixon pulls Amelia aside and questions her regarding Viktor and his mysterious peanut can. Amelia, who realizes Viktor has not been entirely truthful, confronts him at his makeshift home, where he shows her that the Planters peanut can contains a copy of the "
A Great Day in Harlem" photograph. His late father was a jazz enthusiast who had discovered the famous portrait in a
Hungarian newspaper in 1958 and vowed to collect the autographs of all 57 of the musicians featured on it. He died before he could get the last one, from tenor saxophonist
Benny Golson
Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launch ...
. Viktor has come to New York to do so. After hearing the story, Amelia kisses Viktor.
After nine months, his friends wake Viktor with the news that the war in Krakozhia has ended, and he can get a green stamp, allowing him to leave the airport. Meanwhile, Amelia had asked her "friend", actually a married government official with whom she had been having an affair, to get Viktor a one-day emergency visa to fulfill his dream, but Viktor is disappointed to learn that she has rekindled her relationship with the man during this process. When he presents the emergency visa at customs, Viktor is told that Dixon must sign the visa. But with Viktor's passport now valid again, Dixon is determined to immediately send him back to Krakozhia. He threatens Viktor that if he does not go home at once, he will cause trouble for his friends, most seriously by deporting janitor Gupta Rajan back to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to face a charge of assaulting a police officer. Unwilling to let this happen, Viktor finally agrees to return home. When Gupta learns of this, however, he runs in front of the plane which would take Viktor back home, ensuring his deportation and taking the burden off Viktor.
The delay gives Viktor enough time to get into the city. Dixon orders his officers to arrest Viktor, but disillusioned with Dixon, they let him leave the airport. As Viktor is getting in a taxi, Amelia arrives in another taxi, and they briefly smile and make eye contact. Dixon himself arrives at the taxi stand only moments after Viktor's taxi has left. When his officers arrive and one suggests immediately cordoning off the area and searching all vehicles to find him, Dixon, having had a change of heart, tells them that they have incoming travelers to handle. Viktor arrives in New York at the hotel where Benny Golson is performing and finally collects the last autograph. He gets in a taxi, telling the driver, "I am going home".
Cast
*
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
as Viktor Navorski
*
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed C ...
as Amelia Warren
*
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in film ...
as Frank Dixon
*
Chi McBride
Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles.
In film, he has played prominent ro ...
as Joe Mulroy
*
Diego Luna
Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer. He is known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' and the Disney+ series ''Andor''.
Following an early care ...
as Enrique Cruz
*
Barry Shabaka Henley
Barry Shabaka Henley (born Barry Joseph Henley; September 15, 1954) is an American character actor. Henley has appeared as a regular in a number of television series, has numerous film credits, and is a fixture in films by director Michael Mann, ...
as Judge Thurman
*
Kumar Pallana
Kumar Valavhadas Pallana (23 December 1918 – 10 October 2013) was an Indian American character actor and vaudevillian. He performed on the Mickey Mouse Club as a plate spinner and juggler.
Career
Pallana moved to the United States in 1946 ...
as Gupta Rajan
*
Zoe Saldana
Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to:
*ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life"
People
* Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name
Film and television
* ''Zoe'' (film)
* ZOE Broadcast ...
as Dolores Torres
*
Eddie Jones as Richard Salchak
*
Jude Ciccolella
Richard Jude Ciccolella (born November 30, 1947) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for playing Mike Novick in the television series '' 24'' from 2001 to 2006.
Life and career
Ciccolella was born in Burlington, Vermont, and spen ...
as Karl Iverson
*
Corey Reynolds
Corey Reynolds (born July 3, 1974) is an American actor known for originating the role of Seaweed in the Broadway adaptation of ''Hairspray'', and for the TNT crime show ''The Closer''.
Early life and career
Reynolds was born in Richmond, Virgin ...
as Waylin
*
Guillermo Diaz Guillermo Diaz may refer to:
* Guillermo Díaz (footballer, born 1926), Chilean footballer
* Guillermo Díaz (footballer, born 1930) (1930–1997), Chilean footballer
* Guillermo Díaz (wrestler) (born 1964), Mexican Olympic wrestler
*Guillermo Dí ...
as Bobby Alima
*
Rini Bell
Honorine Bell is an American actress.
Career
Bell has been in movies such as '' Ghost World'', ''The Terminal'', ''Bring It On'', '' Road Trip'', Baja Beach Bums, and '' Jarhead''. She had a recurring role on ''Gilmore Girls'' playing Lulu, a lo ...
as Nadia
*
Valery Nikolaev
Valery Valeryevich Nikolaev (russian: Валерий Валерьевич Николаев; born 23 August 1965) is a Russian film and theater actor, director.
Career
Nikolaev has choreographed five productions at the Chekhov MKhAT theater. He c ...
as Milodragovich
*
Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri (born December 9, 1945) is an American screen and stage actor. He is best known for his television roles, including Dr. Neil Roberts on ''The O.C.'', Phil Grey on ''Damages'', Caleb Cortlandt on ''All My Children'', Eli David in ...
as Max
*
Benny Golson
Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launch ...
as himself
*
Mark Ivanir
Mark Alexandrovich Ivanir ( he, מארק איווניר; uk, Марк Олександрович Іванір; russian: Марк Александрович Иванир) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli actor known for his character roles on Americ ...
as Cab Driver Goran
*
Scott Adsit
Robert Scott Adsit (born November 26, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Adsit joined the mainstage cast of Chicago's The Second City in 1994 after attending Columbia College Chicago. He app ...
as Cab Driver
*
Dan Finnerty
Dan Finnerty (born January 22, 1970) is an American actor and singer.
Early life
Finnerty was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in the small town of Bath, New York. He attended Emerson College in Boston. He was a member of the hit off-Br ...
as Cliff
* Stephen Mendel as First Class Steward
Production
Some have noted that the film appears to be inspired by the story of
Mehran Karimi Nasseri
Mehran Karimi Nasseri ( fa, مهران کریمی ناصری pronounced ; 1945 – 12 November 2022), also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran, was an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal 1 in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 A ...
, also known as Sir Alfred, an
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
ian
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. who lived in Terminal One of the Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris from 1988 when his refugee papers were stolen until 2006 when he was hospitalized for unspecified ailments.
In September 2003, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' noted that Spielberg bought the rights to Nasseri's life story as the basis for the film; and in September 2004 ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' noted Nasseri received thousands of dollars from the filmmakers.
[Matthew Rose]
"Waiting For Spielberg"
''The New York Times'', September 21, 2003. Retrieved June 12, 2008. However, none of the studio's publicity materials mention Nasseri's story as an inspiration for the film. The 1993 French film ''
Lost in Transit
''Lost in Transit'' (original title: ''Tombés du ciel''; literally "Fallen from the Sky") is a 1993 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe Lioret. The film is about a man who loses his passport and spends a couple of days at a Paris airp ...
'' was already based on the same story. In deciding to make the film, Steven Spielberg stated that after directing ''
Catch Me If You Can
''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American biographical crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams and James ...
'', "I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world.... This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times."
Spielberg traveled around the world to find an actual airport that would let him film for the length of the production, but could not find one. ''The Terminal'' set was built in a massive hangar at the
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport
: ''See: United States Air Force Plant 42 for the United States Government use of the facility''
Palmdale Regional Airport is an airport in Palmdale, California, United States. The city of Palmdale took over the airport at the end of 2013, mana ...
. The hangar, part of the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
Plant 42
United States Air Force Plant 42 is a classified aircraft manufacturing plant owned by the United States Air Force in the Antelope Valley, about from downtown Los Angeles. It is also used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (N ...
complex was used to build the
Rockwell International
Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...
B-1B bomber
The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It is commonly called the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of three strategic bombers serving in the U.S. Air Force fleet along wit ...
. The set was built to full earthquake construction codes and was based on
Düsseldorf Airport
Düsseldorf Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Düsseldorf, ; until March 2013 ''Düsseldorf International Airport''; ) is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about north ...
. The shape of both the actual terminal and the set viewed sideways is a cross-section of an aircraft wing. Because of this design, the film was one of the first to use the
Spidercam
The Spidercam is a cable-suspended camera system which enables film and television cameras to move both vertically and horizontally over a predetermined area, typically the playing field of a sporting event such as a cricket pitch, football fie ...
for film production. The camera, most often used for televised sports, allowed Spielberg the ability to create sweeping shots across the set. The design of the set for ''The Terminal'', as noted by
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature by ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine, was greatly inspired by
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati (; born Jacques Tatischeff, ; 9 October 1907 – 5 November 1982) was a French mime, film-maker, actor and screenwriter. In an ''Entertainment Weekly'' poll of the Greatest Movie Directors, he was voted the 46th greatest of all time ...
's classic film ''
PlayTime
''Playtime'' (stylized as ''PlayTime'' and also written as ''Play Time'') is a 1967 comedy film directed by Jacques Tati. In the film, Tati again plays Monsieur Hulot, the popular character who had central roles in his earlier films ''Les Vacanc ...
''.
Tom Hanks based his characterization of Viktor Navorski on his father-in-law Allan Wilson, a Bulgarian immigrant, who according to Hanks can speak "Russian, Turkish, Polish, Greek, little bit of Italian, little bit of French", in addition to his native Bulgarian. Hanks also had some help from a Bulgarian translator.
Soundtrack
Emily Bernstein played clarinet for the score, including several prominent solos, and her name is in the film's end credits.
Normally individual musicians in studio orchestras perform anonymously, but Spielberg insisted on highlighting Bernstein's work; she was being treated for cancer at the time of recording, and she died less than a year later.
Reception
Box office
''The Terminal'' grossed $77.9 million in North America, and $141.2 million in other territories, totaling $219.4 million worldwide.
The film grossed $19.1 million in its opening weekend, finishing in second, then made $13.1 million in its second weekend, dropping to third.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 61% of 206 sampled critics gave ''The Terminal'' positive reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Terminal'' transcends its flaws through the sheer virtue of its crowd-pleasing message and a typically solid star turn from Tom Hanks." At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a
weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Michael Wilmington from the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' said "
he film
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
takes Spielberg into realms he's rarely traveled before."
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic. He has been chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' since 2004, a title he shares with Manohla Dargis.
Early life
Scott was born on July 10, 1966 in ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said Hanks' performance brought a lot to the film.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave ''The Terminal'' three and a half out of four stars, stating that "This premise could have yielded a film of contrivance and labored invention. Spielberg, his actors and writers... weave it into a human comedy that is gentle and true, that creates sympathy for all of its characters, that finds a tone that will carry them through, that made me unreasonably happy". Martin Liebman of Blu-ray.com considers the film as "quintessential cinema", praising it for being "a down-to-earth, honest, hopeful, funny, moving, lightly romantic, and dramatically relevant film that embodies the term 'movie magic' in every scene." Critic
Matt Zoller Seitz
Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and film-maker.
Career
Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for '' New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as ...
of
RogerEbert.com
''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...
considered ''The Terminal'' alongside ''
War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
'' and ''
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
'' (also directed by Spielberg) as the three best films made within the studio system that comment upon the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
.
Krakozhia
Krakozhia (''Кракожия'') is a fictional country, created for the film, that closely resembles a former
Soviet Republic or an
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
state.
The exact location of Krakozhia is kept intentionally vague in the film, sticking with the idea of Viktor being simply
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
an or from a
former Soviet republic
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
. However, in one scene, a map of Krakozhia is briefly displayed on one of the airport's television screens during a news report on the ongoing conflict and its borders are those of present-day
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
(then known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at the time of the film's production and release due to the then-ongoing
Macedonia naming dispute
The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...
). However, in another scene, the protagonist shows his driver's license, which happens to be a
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
ian license issued to a woman bearing an
Uzbek name. The film presents a reasonably accurate picture of the process of naturalistic
second-language acquisition
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2 (language 2) acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific dis ...
, according to linguist
Martha Young-Scholten.
[ Abstract for talk given at the ]University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, April 26, 2006.
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
, the film's composer, also wrote a national anthem for Krakozhia.
Hanks' character speaks Bulgarian as his native Krakozhian, but in one scene in which he helps a Russian-speaking passenger with a customs-related issue, he speaks a
constructed Slavic language
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto ...
resembling Bulgarian and Russian.
When Viktor buys a guide book of New York both in English and in his mother-tongue to compare the two versions and improve his English, the book he studies is written in Russian.
See also
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List of American films of 2004
This is a list of American films that were released in 2004.
Box office
The highest-grossing American films released in 2004, by domestic box office gross revenue, are as follows:
January–March
April–June
July–September
...
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List of people who have lived in airports
This is a list of people notable for living for periods of more than a week in airports. The reasons are usually protesting, asylum seeking or having holiday difficulties, having difficulty with visas and passports.
List of residents
See al ...
* ''
Lost in Transit
''Lost in Transit'' (original title: ''Tombés du ciel''; literally "Fallen from the Sky") is a 1993 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe Lioret. The film is about a man who loses his passport and spends a couple of days at a Paris airp ...
'', 1993 French film also inspired by Nasseri.
* ''
Flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
'', 1998 opera.
* ''
Terminal 1'', a 2004 album by Benny Golson.
* ''
A Great Day in Harlem'', a 1994 documentary about the photograph and jazz musicians featured in the film.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Terminal, The
2004 films
2004 comedy-drama films
2000s romance films
Amblin Entertainment films
American aviation films
American comedy-drama films
American romance films
2000s Bulgarian-language films
DreamWorks Pictures films
Films about interpreting and translation
Films directed by Steven Spielberg
Films produced by Steven Spielberg
Films produced by Walter F. Parkes
Films scored by John Williams
Films set in the Soviet Union
Films set in New York City
Films set in airports
Films set in a fictional country
Films shot in Montreal
Films with screenplays by Jeff Nathanson
2000s French-language films
2000s Russian-language films
Star Alliance
Statelessness
Films about coups d'état
2000s English-language films
2000s American films