Clearly the best movie I saw in 2004.

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2005)

Reading the other reviews here I mentioned that the majority of the people who disliked the movie either didn't get the idea or didn't get to see a piece of art which cinematography is. The people, who came to see "something funny" or some cool but brainless action with fighting, races, shootings, killings etc found "The Terminal" boring. No surprise here: this move isn't for pop-culture audience, it's for people who can think and feel all hidden but beautiful turns of a movie. But there are many people who just stacked in facts they think don't make sense and blame the move to contain mistakes. That's learning English in couple weeks, made-up Victor's country and language, etc. These folks somehow thinks that the story of an airport adventure must be absolutely real, contain only true and recognizable facts and better be a documentary. They just don't see that unimportant things, who are just setting the stage, could easily be made in fairytale-like style and the movie like Terminal will only gain from it, not concentrating on "how exactly that happened". And finally, the most misunderstood point of the movie is the final of the Victor's love story as well as the box with signatures. That's because many observers have got emotional reflection but couldn't clarify the main idea of the movie, which this comment is actually about. This movie isn't about love or devotion, but about the conflict between the human personality and the system. It's the unique character of Victor which makes him deal with absolutely every situation he gets in in the airport and to become a winner, having love from everybody around him. He changes barking "Next!" officer Torres to a happy wife of his friend Enrike, who, once, even talks to him in his native language, forgetting the language difference. And that's why Amelia, who is definitely a part of her own system, a circle she couldn't get out, can't go along with him. And one of the most touching moments of the picture: small Indian man Gupta with a mop runs towards a huge monstrous plane (representing The System) which must crash him, but miracle happens: the moment he touches the plane wheels be his mop, the plane stops; the human is stronger and victorious over the System. That episode is so strong, I would compare it with "Love is beautiful", where the boy is standing in the middle of deserted concentration camp, and suddenly from behind the corner comes the real tank, promised him by his father, who is already dead... And being very familiar with US immigration system as well as arriving at JFK, I can say that the topic and the spirit of the movie is just right: I'm proud to live in country, who can recognize it's own weaknesses and make such a wonderful movie about it like Spielberg did. I rank this movie with maximum score.