The Terminal

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a traveler from the fictional nation of Krakozhia, arrives at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, only to discover that his passport is suddenly no longer valid. The United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as an independent country after the outbreak of a civil war, and Viktor is not permitted to either enter the country or return home as he is now stateless. Because of this, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizes his passport and airline ticket.

Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci), the temporary customs director of the airport, sees no other option but to let Viktor stay in the transit lounge until the issue is resolved. Viktor settles in at the terminal with only his luggage and a Planters peanut can. Viktor finds a gate currently under renovation, and makes it his home. He befriends and assists airport employees and travelers. Among them is a flight attendant named Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones), 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. Viktor begins reading magazines and newspaper articles to learn English. After he impulsively remodeled a wall at 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 hasn't 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. 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 gets a green stamp, allowing him to leave the airport. Amelia also 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 she has renewed her relationship with the man during this process. Moreover, Viktor finds out that Dixon must sign the visa. Seizing the opportunity, Dixon threatens to cause trouble for Viktor's friends, most seriously by deporting janitor Gupta (Kumar Pallana) back to India to potentially face a charge of assaulting a police officer. Unwilling to let this happen, Viktor finally agrees to return home to Krakozhia. When Gupta learns of this, however, he runs in front of the plane which will take Victor back to home, effectively taking the burden off Viktor.

The delay gives Viktor enough time to get into the city. Dixon orders his officers to arrest Viktor, but they instead let him leave the airport. As Viktor is getting in a taxi, Amelia arrives in another taxi, and they briefly make eye contact. Dixon himself arrives at the taxi stand only moments after Viktor's taxi left. When his officers arrive, Dixon pauses for a moment before telling 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. Then he gets in a taxi, telling the driver, "I am going home."

The gigantic airport set built for the film.

Some have noted that the film appears to be inspired by 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 when his refugee papers were stolen until 2006 when he was hospitalized for unspecified ailments.[2][3] In September 2003, The New York Times noted that 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.[4][5] 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 was already based on the same story. In deciding to make the film, Steven 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."[6]

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 "Spider-Cam" 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 in his reviews and attested by Spielberg himself in a feature by Empire magazine, was greatly inspired by Jacques Tati's classic film PlayTime. 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.[7] Hanks also had some help from a Bulgarian translator named Peter Budevski.[8]

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All music is composed by John Williams.

The clarinet piece "Viktor's Tale", also composed by John Williams, is taken from the movie's soundtrack.

Emily Bernstein recorded the clarinet solos for the score. Director Steven Spielberg - a former clarinetist himself - insisted that Bernstein's name appear in the film's end credits, although traditionally, individual musicians performing in studio orchestras remain anonymous.

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

The exact location of Krakozhia is kept intentionally vague in the film, sticking with the idea of Viktor being simply Eastern European or from a former Soviet republic. 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 the Republic of North Macedonia, but in another scene the protagonist shows his driving license, which happens to be a Belarusian license issued to a woman bearing an Uzbek name. The film presents a reasonably accurate picture of the process of naturalistic second-language acquisition, according to linguist Martha Young-Scholten.[18]

John Williams, the film's composer, also wrote a national anthem for Krakozhia.[19]

Tom Hanks’ character speaks the Bulgarian language as his native Krakozhian, but in one scene where he helps a Russian-speaking passenger with a customs related issue, he speaks a constructed Slavic language resembling both Bulgarian and Russian.[20][21]

• 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

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