The Terminal

''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 to the United States, but is unable to return to his native country because of a military coup.

The film is partially inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri who lived in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, from 1988 to 2006.

After finishing '' Catch Me If You Can'' (2002), Spielberg decided to direct ''The Terminal'' because he wanted to make a film "that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world". As no suitable airport was willing to provide their facilities, 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 Montreal–Mirabel International Airport.

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 Krakozhia, arrives at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport and learns that a coup d'état has occurred in his country while he was in the air. The United States does not recognize Krakozhia's new government, rendering Viktor's passport invalid and leaving him unable to either enter the United States or return to Krakozhia. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes his passport and return ticket, pending resolution of the issue, leaving him stranded at the airport with only his luggage and a Planters peanut can in his possession.

Frank Dixon, the Acting Field Commissioner of the airport, instructs Viktor to stay in the transit lounge until the issue is resolved, but he becomes determined to make Viktor someone else's problem. He tries to tempt Viktor to leave illegally by ordering guards away from the exit for five minutes, but it fails. Dixon then tries to persuade Viktor to claim asylum, but Viktor refuses, as he is not afraid of returning to his own country.

Viktor finds a gate under renovation and makes it his home. Being considered for a promotion, Dixon becomes increasingly obsessed with getting rid of Viktor. Meanwhile, Viktor begins reading guidebooks in order to learn English.

He has repeated encounters with Gupta Rajan, a grumpy elderly janitor, with whom he slowly forms a bond. He also befriends Joe Mulroy, a baggage handler who plays poker, betting lost luggage items. Enrique Cruz, a food service truck driver, provides Viktor with free meals in exchange for helping him woo Dolores Torres, an immigration officer whom Viktor has befriended.

Viktor shows skill at construction work when he remodels a wall in a terminal undergoing renovation. The airport contractors assume he is an employee and pay him under the table. He also begins a relationship with Amelia, a flight attendant who is also entangled with a married government official.

During a visit from his superiors, Dixon enlists Viktor's help in communicating with a Russian man who is desperately attempting to bring medicine home to his dying father. Dixon is determined to refuse the man because of a paperwork issue, which Viktor helps the young man circumvent the rules, incensing and embarrassing Dixon, who threatens Viktor and tells him he will never allow him to enter the United States. This incident is witnessed by Dixon's superiors, who give him a look of contempt before leaving, while Viktor becomes a legend amongst the terminal employees for helping the man and standing up to Dixon.

Dixon detains Amelia and interrogates her about Viktor. 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 picture in a Hungarian newspaper in 1958 and vowed to collect the autographs of all 57 musicians depicted in it, all of which are in the can with the photograph. He died needing only the autograph of tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, and Viktor has come to New York to get it. After hearing the story, Amelia kisses Viktor.

Nine months after having arrived, Viktor learns that the war in Krakozhia has ended. Amelia reveals that her married boyfriend has secured Viktor a one-day emergency visa so he can fulfill his dream, but that she has also rekindled the relationship.

When he presents the emergency visa at customs, Viktor is told that Dixon must sign it. However, as Viktor's passport is now valid again, Dixon is determined to deport him back to Krakozhia. He warns Viktor that if he does not go home at once, he will prosecute his friends at the airport for their illegal activities, most seriously by deporting Gupta back to India to face a charge of assaulting a corrupt police officer. Viktor finally agrees to return home, but Gupta delays the plane by running in front of it and is taken into custody.

Emboldened by his friend's actions, Viktor decides to leave the airport. Several airport employees rush to say goodbye, but Dixon orders his officers to stop Viktor at the exit where, disillusioned with Dixon, they let him leave. Dixon reaches the taxi stand only moments after Viktor has left, but has a change of heart and tells his officers to handle the incoming travelers rather than engage in pursuit. Viktor arrives at the hotel where Golson is performing and finally collects the last autograph, then takes a taxi back to the airport to go home.

Cast

* Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski
* Catherine Zeta-Jones as Flight Attendant Amelia Warren
* Stanley Tucci as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Field Commissioner Frank Dixon
* Barry Shabaka Henley as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Judge Thurman
* Kumar Pallana as Janitor Gupta Rajan
* Diego Luna as Food Service Deliverer Enrique Cruz
* Chi McBride as Baggage Handler Joe Mulroy
* Zoe Saldaña as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Dolores Torres
* Eddie Jones as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Richard Salchak
* Jude Ciccolella as Karl Iverson
* Corey Reynolds as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Waylin
* Guillermo Diaz as Bobby Alima
* Rini Bell as Nadia
* Valery Nikolaev as Milodragovich
* Michael Nouri as Max
* Benny Golson as Himself
* Scott Adsit as Cab Driver
* Mark Ivanir as Goran
* Dan Finnerty as Cliff
* Stephen Mendel as First Class Steward

Production

The idea for the film may have originated from the story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, also known as Sir Alfred, an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal One of the Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris from 1988 until 2006. In September 2003, ''The New York Times'' noted that Steven Spielberg bought the rights to Nasseri's life story as the basis for the film; and in September 2004 ''The Guardian'' 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, and the storyline bears no resemblance to Nasseri's experiences. The 1993 French film '' Lost in Transit'' was already based on the same story. In deciding to make the film, Spielberg stated that after directing '' Catch Me If You Can'', "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. The hangar, part of the U.S. Air Force Plant 42 complex, was used to build the Rockwell International B-1B bomber. The set was built to full earthquake construction codes and was based on Düsseldorf Airport. 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 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 in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature by ''Empire'' magazine, was greatly inspired by Jacques Tati's classic film '' PlayTime''.

Tom Hanks based his characterization of Viktor Navorski on his father-in-law Allan Wilson, a Bulgarian immigrant who speaks " 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.

Krakozhia

Krakozhia (''Кракожия'') is a fictional country, created for the film, that closely resembles a former Soviet Republic or an Eastern Bloc state.

The exact location of Krakozhia is kept intentionally vague in the film. 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. Its borders are those of present-day North Macedonia (known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at the time of the film's production). However, in another scene, Viktor shows his driver's license, which is a Belarusian license issued to a woman bearing an Uzbek name.

John Williams, the film's composer, also wrote a national anthem for Krakozhia.

Hanks' character speaks mostly Bulgarian as his native Krakozhian. However in one scene, in which he helps a Russian-speaking passenger with a customs-related issue, he speaks a constructed Slavic language 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.

The film presents a reasonably accurate picture of the process of naturalistic second-language acquisition, according to linguist Martha Young-Scholten. Abstract for talk given at the University of Leeds Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, April 26, 2006.

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 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, 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 gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Wilmington from the '' Chicago Tribune'' said " he filmtakes Spielberg into realms he's rarely traveled before." A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'' said Hanks' performance brought a lot to the film.

Roger Ebert of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' 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 of RogerEbert.com considered ''The Terminal'' alongside '' War of the Worlds'' and '' Munich'' (also directed by Spielberg) as the three best films made within the studio system that comment upon the September 11 attacks.

See also

* List of American films of 2004
* List of people who have lived in airports
* '' Lost in Transit'', 1993 French film also inspired by Nasseri.
* '' Flight'', 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.
* Statelessness

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 fictional countries
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
2004 multilingual films
American multilingual films
Films set in Queens, New York
English-language comedy-drama films
English-language romance films