Amazing faceted film with a lot of flaws

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2014)

I love this film. There's a lot of flaws with it of course. i love Tom Hanks in this but I think they miscast. I think it would've been a lot better if it was an actual person of Eastern European descent. The subplots can be sappy. But the overall writing is amazing. There is a beautifully wrought sense of comradery and overwhelming odds. To me, I felt the airport was an metaphor for America itself. The security a metaphor for the government. Movies don't often choke me up but this one does, every time. In a way this movie was it's own version of Purgatory. I'm sure for some of the people watching it it seems as thus. But the underlying themes cannot be mistaken. Nonviolent peaceful resistance, making the best out of the most messed up situation you could possibly be in, and realizing all the people trapped with you have their own problems that need solved as well. A lot of people will say Schindler's List is Spielburg's best work, and I do agree for the most part. But if I had to choose between these two movies on a regular Saturday night? I'd pick the Terminal any day. And the Terminal really is as painful for me to watch as Schindler's List. The overall theme of dragging people down with rules, laws, and heartbreak over the name of some stupid security? It's just the fight against Nazism and totalitarianism in a different context. Ever notice how it feels that if Victor leaves the airport, he will end up in a concentration camp? I feel this way about the first half of the movie and by the second half I feel that the Terminal itself has become a concentration camp. The themes are easy to miss when shed in the light of a pretty flawed romanticomedy. Of course I read too much into it, as I always do. But yah, 2 thumbs up and a huge amount of respect for showing that the nice guy doesn't always finish last, that peaceful nonviolent resistance can really work, the woman you love isn't always going to be available and the answers to almost all your problems are in the local bookstore. Even if that bookstore is a sold out disgrace in a busy airport terminal. Adversity is something we all must face, all the time,especially in airports. Lovely film.