Stuck in the Peripherals

DVD REVIEW: The Terminal (2004)

A few months back while doing my routine sweeps across HMV Orchard, something caught my eyes in the form of The Terminal DVD, from which i gathered was a great film though i only had minor recollections of it. Seeing that it starred Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, my all-time favourite actor and actress, their combination seem to justify enough reason for me to buy the DVD.

And clearly it did not disappoint. A 2004 comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg (need I say more?), it tells of a man trapped in the JFK International Airport terminal when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country due to a revolution.

Tom Hanks's character of Victor Navorski in its innocence later met with a very virginal looking and relatively young Catherine Zeta-Jones and they had a brief romance. Some would have known me to be an anti-White romance movies, but this is an exception, and for one i would not really consider it as a love film. And far from those silly coming-of age movies, The Terminal tells of the complexities of life - a life story, the opposing outlooks of life, and their co-existence.

Similarly too, not unlike the Victor in the movie, we find ourselves stuck in a particular place somewhere in our lives. Even though this goes against my outlook of life being roads or paths that bring us to our various destiny (and thus destination), perhaps there seem to be a necessity in being trapped in a particular place before we embark on the next journey. As a matter of fact we do get lost in roads. At this point it reminds me of the last scenes in another superb Tom Hanks film, Cast Away, where the character stood in the middle of a four-way junction - a symbolic visual imagery.

What if we fall while waiting? I certainly feel so, this being the lowest point in my life so far. Honestly speaking i never did expect me of all people to actually resent it. Me who had previously in my life enjoyed such pomp for years dating back to primary school days - holding such positions only some could even dream to clamour for. Now where I am is not here, not there, nowhere. And no matter how hard I sometimes tried to come into terms with what I am doing, I am too in love with my freedom and access to life to want to enjoy a life without going home or sleeping in the wild. Truly, me of all people? Its a shocking shift in spite of myself.

Could it be the curse of the times, or a momentary ditch necessary in the climb to greatness? A retribution for arrogance? Being stuck is certainly not comfortable, and i feel it is immature for others to say "endure" in such circumstances. What can be more stupid than being in a ridiculous position where stupidity reigns, and where low-lives take on the pretence to call the shots? The world certainly stops to civilise in a place they pride to be the biggest organisation in the entire country.

Sleeping uncomfortably not unlike in a land rover or tonner in the middle of nowhere. Knowing I have a great place to go to after the necessary yet sadly fairly productive place I am now only relieves the pain to a small degree. The end will certainly come, and the light at the end of the tunnel would eventually reveal itself. But yet i guess i can never understand the sudden shift in so many of the values i thought i had once defined myself to hold dearly. To echo Anakin Skywalker - something's happening, I am not the man I should be. Tom Hanks's Victor Navorski found temporal love while stuck in the terminal, befittingly i guess, though i do not expect it would happen here. And just as every story must have a villain, the director of customs in The Terminal takes on a lot of faces.

Yes sad is how it feels, heartbreaking at worst. Having left past grandeurs, and waiting for forestalled freedom and heights of destiny. The character came to the United States for a noble purpose, to fulfil his dear father's incomplete signatures of his favourite jazz group. Victor Navorski went through all the trouble, and yes waiting too, to complete an uncompleted dream. It is then comforting to know, that that may yet at least be a reason to why I am stuck in this peripheral of time.

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KEONGOMANIA TRIVIA: The article title Stuck in the Peripherals echoes the title of a poem written and published by the author in the old Keongomania Blog on 27 January 2006 - The Force of Zen-Touch: Lost in the Peripherals, about a crime of passion. They however do not have any co-relation whatsoever. That literary work was nominated for the Keongomania Award for Best Metaphorical Expression (Poetry) in that year.

LINK: http://kingkeong.blogs.friendster.com/keongomania/2006/01/the_force_of_ze.html#comments