Questions for Discussion

The Terminal

1. What were your overall impressions of The Terminal?

2. What are your first impressions of Viktor as he begins his long stay in the international transit lounge at JFK? How would you describe Viktor's character?

3. How well do you think Dixon explains what has happened and what the rules force him to do with Viktor? How is he portrayed as a character in the film?

4. In what ways are Viktor and Dixon total opposites in terms of their personalities? Why does the airport officer get so upset by the man without a country's behavior and activities? If Dixon had treated Viktor as a teacher at an important transitional point in his life, what could he have learned about himself?

5. How does Viktor find out about the war in his native country of Krakozhia?

6. How does Viktor deal with the language barrier?

7. What does Viktor do for money?

8. Why does Gupta hate Viktor so much?

9. What was in the peanut tin Viktor carried around?

10. Why doesn't Viktor leave the airport and escape to New York when he is offered the chance?

11. Why does Viktor go to New York at the end of the film rather than go home? Why does he go to such lengths to fulfill the promise he made to his father?

12. What role does Viktor's friendship with Gupta, Joe and Enrique play in the film?

13. When does Viktor first make it clear that he is a patient man unwilling to react to things in haste or in anger? Which characters in the drama most sorely test his patience? How does Viktor cope with all the waiting he has to do in the airport? What enables Viktor to adapt so well to life in the airport?

14. Although Viktor lacks a full command of the English language, he manages to demonstrate a remarkable resiliency during his nine-month stay in the international transit lounge. What character qualities fortify this capacity to bounce back in the face of setbacks and repeated difficulties?

15. Although Viktor takes his time with things, even he tries to speed up, and he winds up sliding on the newly waxed floor. Gupta, the Indian janitor, derives much humor from watching people ignore the caution cones which he puts up around the area he has just finished. What other scenes in the film demonstrate the drawbacks to speed as a way of living? Discuss Amelia's character and how speed has inhibited her relationships with others.

16. Viktor is a good listener, someone who is present in the fullest sense of the word. Which of the many members of his extended airport workers family is lucky enough to receive his gift of listening? Which characters in the film are not good listeners? What difference does their lack of this skill make?

17. Do you think that the airport terminal here can be interpreted as a symbol of something bigger, and if so, what do you think it is? What comment does that make on our society today?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14