Victor Narvorsky landed in America while his country was in harsh political instability just in order to fulfill his father’s will of collecting the last member’s autograph of his favorite swing band in which there’re 57 in total. This clue was actually given at the second half of the movie, before which we were likely to guess his intention was to shun the turbulence of his own country in east Europe.
He was suspected by almost everyone in the customs and the staff in the terminal building of Kennedy Airport. But it turned out he was astoundingly simple. Compared with the culture and social status quo of the highly developed country, Narvorsky’s simpleness of his nature was gradually perceived and talked up, and even outshone sophisticated minds.
Actually I suppose his simpleness is partly because of his nature, and partly because he was brought up in a less developed country, where devious politeness and top alertness of surroundings haven’t found their way seeping into people’s mind. But instead of highlighting the disparity between the countries, the director apparently wanted to present his appreciation of such simpleness of the mind and the strong resolution made by a simple mind, which signified the meaning of any tiny, weenie matter.
That something is made great to the world is not because it is great itself, it is because the person who’s up to it with unremitting attention and endeavor makes it great.
Look, Narvosky’s father suddenly found on one day that he loved a Jazz band only from one picture on a newspaper. And he determined to collect all the autographs of the entire 57 members of that band. He spent the rest 40 years writing to ask for it. When there’s still one left until his death, he asked his son to fulfill it for him as a will. If his father abandoned it when he found it’s hard to collect all of them in the middle of his life, this mission wouldn’t look this great to people. Perhaps when he was old, when he chatted with friends in the bar, he would mention that he was once fond of a swing band in passing. It’s just like one of those things people loved in their lives and nothing significant else. But it seemed that it was the only thing his father did in his life. His life might not be easy, he stuck out though. His life meant nothing until Narvorsky got the last autograph, which crystallized his entire life.
The other idea I thought the director would like to convey was the attitude of waiting actively. Narvorsky waited to get out of the terminal building to go to NY City. He did a lot of things to live well in the building instead of passive waiting looking pathetically. He tried to earn some money to buy himself food, he tried to learn English, he tried to make himself a room like home, he hooked up a marriage, and he also tried to win the heart of a woman he fell in love with. He’s a hardworking person and was quite obliging. He even made the terminal building like a neighborhood. All he had done helped him accomplish his mission unconsciously. For this part, the director so advocated the goodness of human heart. Why modern people are acting cool and indifferent to the outside world?
As for the flight attendant Narvorsky had a crush on, she kept waiting for her lover to get divorced and marry her for over 10 years. She didn’t have a settled home for she thought she could pack up in a few minutes to get to her lover at once when her lover paged her. And she kept her beeper on all these years so that she wouldn’t miss out on one single call from him. Finally she got him. For the customs official, he waited 10 years for his higher-up to get retired so as to be promoted to be the top commissioner. He worked industriously for all these years, and finally he got the post he deserved.
Being asked after manage to do something after a long time, people would only say they were just waiting for that thing to happen, and luckily at last it happened. It’s enough as hindsight, but if we dig more deep into the matter, I would find people were struggling to make things happen while they were seemed to be waiting. Some gave up, others sick their neck out till they succeed. And success will definitely come up to as long as they are determined to put all eggs in one basket and hold onto the last second. This is a law of nature.
--Claire Ding
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
---William Blake
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