The Terminal (2004 film)

The Terminal (original title The Terminal) is a romantic drama film with touches of comedy, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chi McBride, Stanley Tucci and Diego Luna.

The film is based on the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport between 1988 and 2006. Before Spielberg, French director Philippe Lioret had already adapted his story in the film In transit (1993) (original title: Tombés du ciel) (1993).

Plot

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport, but is denied access, so he is not allowed to enter the United States. On the flight path he was heading to the US, a coup began in his home country of Krakozhia (fictional European country similar to a typical former Soviet Republic). Due to that civil war, the United States stopped recognizing Krakozhia as a sovereign nation, so they deny Viktor entry to the US on the basis that Viktor technically does not have citizenship and cannot leave the airport, but he can't go back to Krakozhia either, Viktor now has to live in the terminal in section 67.

Viktor quickly makes friends with the terminal employees, while under the watchful eye of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) police and Chief Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), that he wants Navorski out of the airport. At first Dixon tries to starve him as a method of trying to get Viktor arrested, making him commit some crime. Navorski takes on the task of retrieving vacant cars, retrieving the 25 cents the machine grants upon return. He uses this money to buy food from Burger King, at first everything was going well for him, but Dixon bugs him again by appointing a car collector in his place. After this Viktor befriends an employee of an airport catering company named Enrique Cruz (Diego Luna), who asks him to focus on getting information about a woman who works as a Customs and Border Protection officer named Dolores (Zoe Saldaña) for him, in exchange for giving him all the food he wants. With Viktor's help, Enrique and Dolores finally marry each other. Viktor meets flight attendant Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who asks him out for dinner, and tries to earn money in order to ask Amelia to marry him. Viktor tries to get a job in the airport shops, but no one wants to hire him. That night, he utterly dejected as he made his way to his "house"; In section 67, out of simple curiosity Viktor finds a wall under construction and stays working all night on it, until the next day he is discovered by the construction workers, the architect is impressed with Viktor's work and decides to hire him. Finally Viktor gets a job as a construction worker at the airport, where he earns $19 per hour.

One day Viktor is asked to interpret and translate for a Russian man desperate because his illegal drugs were confiscated for his ailing father. Viktor alleges that he is "medicine for the goat"; ("medicine for the cat" in Latin America), since the drug restriction does not apply to veterinary cases, achieving the resolution of the crisis since no one can discuss the issue because they do not know the language. Under pressure and the watchful eye of the airport committee, which is Dixon's assessment for the upcoming promotion, Dixon has a confrontation with Viktor. Despite Dixon being advised that sometimes rules must be ignored, he becomes obsessed with trying to get Viktor taken out of the airport. An airport porter, Gupta Rajan (Kumar Pallana), exaggerates by recounting the 'goat' incident in which he was killed. and Viktor earns the respect and admiration of all the airport staff.

With the help of his friends from the terminal, Viktor manages to have a spectacular evening with Amelia and that's when Viktor explains to her that the purpose of his visit to New York is to collect an autograph from tenor saxophonist Benny Golson. His late father was a Jazz fanatic who had discovered the 'Big Day in Harlem' in the late 1980s. in a Hungarian newspaper photograph in 1958 and promised to get an autograph from all 57 jazz musicians featured in the photograph.

A year later, the war in Krakozhia ends, but Dixon still won't let Victor into the United States. Amelia reveals that she had asked her "friend", who is actually a government official, for a one-day access visa, she married whom she had had an affair with, to help Victor in obtaining a visa so he can enter the US, but Victor is disappointed to learn that he has renewed his relationship with the man during this process.

To make matters worse, Dixon has to sign Viktor's grant form to give him the right to enter the United States, but he refuses. Viktor is blackmailed by Dixon into returning to Krakozhia or else he will deport Gupta to his native India, where he is wanted for assaulting and stabbing a corrupt policeman. Upon hearing this, Viktor agrees to leave the terminal on the condition that they leave his friends alone, but as he is escorted down the aisles to his flight, Gupta immediately berates Viktor for giving up so easily. and being so close to achieving his goal, where he also annoyedly tells him to get out, however, and through one of the agents, Gupta himself finally finds out what Dixon was up to. Learning of Dixon's plan, Gupta quickly decides to leave the terminal for the runway and stands in front of Viktor's plane and exhorts Viktor to continue, saying: "Keep up your fight" and argues that he is finally going back home. Krakozhia's flight is delayed until further notice, giving Viktor enough time to go into town to get the autograph and then return. With the blessing of all the airport staff, Viktor leaves the airport after receiving a coat and uniform from the US Customs and Border Protection Assistant Port Director, then Viktor hails a taxi.

Dixon, who is watching Viktor leave the airport, decides not to pursue him and admits that there are more important things at the airport to attend to as Viktor prepares to catch the taxi and heads towards the Ramada Inn, where Benny Golson is staying. is performing a Jazz concert, as he leaves the airport he watches Amelia get out of a taxi, where she gives him a wistful smile. He has a short conversation with the taxi driver, telling him how to avoid traffic on the way to the hotel and that he is from Krakozhia. The driver tells Viktor that he is from Albania and arrived earlier that week. He attends the exhibition and collects the last autograph that he needed to complete the collection. Subsequently, Viktor calls a taxi again, where the driver tells Viktor where he wants to go and he responds to the driver saying: "Now, I'm going home".

Cast and dubbing