Nowhere to Call Home

The Terminal is the story of a foreign traveler named Victor Navorski (Tom Hanks) who unwittingly gets caught up in a series of bureaucratic glitches making it impossible for him to return home.

Victor arrives at New York City's JFK airport and finds he is stranded in a no man's land. He is not allowed to get back on a plane, but neither can he leave the airport and legally enter the United States. Frank Dixon, the director of customs, hauls Victor into his office to explain the situation to a man who speaks virtually no English.

Sitting at his desk, Dixon opens up his lunch box and tells Victor, "I have a bit of bad news. It seems that your country has suspended all traveling privileges on passports that have been issued by your government, and our state department has revoked the visa that was going to allow you to enter the United States. That's it in a nutshell, basically. It seems that while you were in the air, there was a military coup in your country. Most of the dead were members of the presidential guard. They were attacked in the middle of the night. It was a terrible firefight. There were very few civilian casualties, so I'm sure your family is fine."

Officer Mulroy interrupts Dixon: "Mr. Navorski, your country was annexed from the inside. The Republic of Krakozia is under new leadership."

Victor, upon hearing his country's name mentioned, responds: "Krakozia, Krakozia, Krakozia!"

Dixon says, "I don't think he gets it." Officer Mulroy nods in agreement.

Dixon uses an object lesson, and says, "Look. Imagine that these potato chips are Krakozia."

Victor corrects his pronunciation, "Kra-ko-zia."

Dixon: "Kra-ko-zia. Kra-ko-zia."

Victor: "Okay."

Dixon: "So the potato chips are Krakozia, okay, and this apple…"

Victor, holding up a tour book of NYC says, "Big Apple. Big Apple."

"Big Apple—represents the liberty rebels, okay?" Then, Dixon uses the apple to smash the bag of potato chips, covering Victor with crumbs. "No more Krakozia," Dixon continues. "New government. Revolution! You understand? So all flights in and out of your country have been suspended indefinitely and the new government has sealed all the borders, which means that your passport and visa are no longer valid, so currently, you are a citizen of nowhere."

Officer Mulroy: "Now even if we could get your new papers, we couldn't process them until the United States recognizes your country's new diplomatic reclassification."

Dixon agrees, "You don't qualify for asylum, refugee status, temporary protective status, humanitarian parole, or non-immigration work, travel or diplomatic visas—you don't qualify for any of these things. You are, at this time, simply…unacceptable."

"Unacceptable?" Victor asks, struggling to understand.

"Unacceptable," Dixon replies.

Content: PG-13

Elapsed Time: 00:05:21 to 00:07:24 (DVD chapter 2)