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Review of The Terminal

An airline terminal is, by definition, a place a traveler passes through on the way from one place to another, and we have to wait here for more or less a boring and anxious time. Also, the word “terminal” has a darker connotation in medical science: death. However, The Terminal, one of Steven Spielberg’s masterpieces, show s us a totally different terminal of paradise where there is romance, friendliness and kindness.

The plot of the film begins with Viktor who flies to New York from the imaginary eastern European republic of Krakozia. When he just arrives at J.F.K. International Airport, a military abolishes his country’s government so that he is homeless. A large amount of complicated bureaucracy and regulations strand him at the airport where he remains for nearly a year, so he is neither able to back nor go forward. That is, he is detained by the airport authorities at the same time he is utterly trapped and completely free. Anyway, Viktor is innocent of anything, but he becomes a big trouble for an ambitious, humorless Homeland Security official named Frank Dixon, who is about to get a big promotion. He racks his wits about getting rid of Viktor who is regarded a troublesome existence.

As we can see, Viktor is equivalently in a frustrating state of imprisonment. However, Steven Spielberg emphasizes freedom rather than constraint. They concentrate on the humor of Viktor’s situation rather than its seriousness. They get Viktor lover, friends and popularity so that he can have a easy life at the airport which is far from home. As a result, an innocent fairy tale of friendliness and pleasure instead of a horror story is shown to us. In fact, if it happens to us in real life, we will have a sense of loneliness and displacement, and we will be in a panic. But in the movie, Viktor is certainly not in such an atmosphere. At first, he seems like a holy fool with a funny accent, and everybody distrusts him, but the determination of his attitude to tell us his father’s story wins him credit and understanding. Not until then can we learn that he is a skilled carpenter and devoted son. Finally, he not only obtains friendliness but love. The whole film shows us Viktor’s innocence, humor, diligence, and authentic personality, which tell us, common people who are luckier than him, that we can’t stop our pursuit for justice, benevolence, understanding, promise and happiness. What’s more, it also teaches us to confront with unfortunate situations dauntlessly by the classic plot of justice eventually will defeat evil.

Actually, this movie is loosely based on the real experience of an Iranian traveler who was abandoned for a much longer period in a Paris airport after the fall of the Shah. Therefore, lots of people think that the director, Steven Spielberg, and screenwriters turn the real story of seriousness and misfortune into a fantasy fairy tale. Nevertheless, on my part, the fact is that art comes from real life but higher than the reality. As a form of art, movies can show us much truth than other art forms, but it just like the art itself, having the purposes of conveying the true, the good and the beautiful. Therefore, what we can learn and realize is the most important thing through these movies. As I referred before, this movie as well as Viktor teaches us that we can’t stop our pursuit for justice, benevolence, understanding, promise and happiness. And more importantly, it teaches us to confront with unfortunate situations dauntlessly. I believe this is more significant.