best airport movie

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2004)

I usually avoid seeing films while traveling, despite flying quite often over the Ocean. Cinema experience does not fit well for me with the poor sound, very small screens, and airplanes food. I could not resist however seeing 'The Terminal' both because the movie was presented by the airline before the DVD is out, and also because this is definitely The Movie to see in-flight. It's about airports after all, and I am spending nowadays part of my life on airports!
Well, I am not sorry at all. This is a typical Spielberg film, and with the exception of 'Schindler's List' here we have a film maker who cannot care less about credibility. His film making is about emotions, relationships, fears and monsters, and we have all of these in the film. The story is of an East European tourist, who finds himself stuck in the no land zone of a New York airport after his passport is being made valid by a military coup in his country. He is not allowed to enter the US, he cannot return home, or fly some other place. He became a non person in international law terms.
The best part of the film was for me the culture clash between the main character and the bureaucratic machine he needs to face. The message is that there is more humanity in his naive, East-European approach to life then in the government clerks supposed to represent the 'Western civilization'. America is an immigrant society, and this film tries to remind this basic fact. This is not supposed to be realistic life description, but more a symbolic confrontation, somehow similar to a Chaplin character facing the Big Machine.
There is no other word to describe Tom Hanks performance but perfect. A good supporting cast provides the comic counterpoint. There is not too much to say about Catherine Zeta-Jones. She is beautiful, and this is all what the role required.
This may not be one of Spielberg's best films, but even when he does an average film Spielberg succeeds to make it interesting, and in this case funny. 8 out of 10 on my personal scale.