"Man behind "Terminal" still living in airport"

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Man behind "Terminal" still living in airport
By Ethan Gilsdorf
The Christian Science Monitor


PARIS - As far as Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" is concerned, the
experience of being trapped inside an airport for a year can lead to
friendship, comic high jinks, and even romance. 

But it's hard to see the life of Merhan Karimi Nasseri through
Spielberg-colored glasses. Nasseri is the inspiration for the movie - a
real-life Iranian refugee who arrived at Paris' Charles de Gaulle
airport in 1988 without a passport and without papers to enter another
country. He's been stuck in Terminal One ever since. Like a lost
suitcase, he has been claimed by no one. 

"The Terminal," which opened Friday, recounts the hardships of Viktor
Navorski (Tom Hanks), a fictitious Balkan traveler stranded at New
York's JFK Airport. His homeland erupts into civil war and his passport
becomes void. He can't officially enter the U.S., but neither can he
return to Eastern Europe. So he lives for months in the hermetically
sealed microcosm of an airport concourse. 

Some of Navorski's survival tactics are similar to Nasseri's, like
bathing in the restroom, setting up a living area on a bench, and
accepting food vouchers from airport workers. But where the movie has
embellished the story with madcap adventures and a fling with a flight
attendant played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nasseri's life consists mostly
of reading. His most recent book is Hillary Clinton's autobiography. 

"Maybe I don't do it like Tom Hanks does it," he says. "My day is just
like inside a library. Silence." Lately, though, he's had more visitors
than usual. He's already the subject of three other films, two of them
documentaries. Reporters and tourists visit and talk with him all day at
his makeshift press lounge. 

"Is this public entertainment?" Nasseri asks with a pained grimace. Yet,
at the same time, "Alfred," as he is also known, seems to relish his
celebrity. 

"He is known throughout the world, and people come to see him," says
Valerie Chevillot, who can see Nasseri's encampment of assorted boxes,
bags, and suitcases through the window of her Phenix clothing boutique.
"But no one really knows him." 

The original crisis began when Nasseri tried to travel to England from
Belgium via France. He lost papers declaring his status as an Iranian
refugee. It's been confirmed that he was expelled from Iran in the
1970s, but Nasseri has since rejected his heritage under the belief that
his Iranian background is the cause of his troubles. No family members
have ever contacted him. 

Summarizing the details of Alfred's bureaucratic nightmare since then
isn't easy. Nasseri waited at Charles de Gaulle while Britain, France,
and Belgium played a shell game with his case for years. At one point,
in a classic Catch-22, Belgian authorities said they had proof of his
original refugee papers, but insisted he pick them up in person - yet
wouldn't let him into the country. He has been jailed several times, and
technically could be removed from the airport at any time. 

After a lengthy legal battle waged by his lawyer, the French government
finally gave him the necessary documents to reside in France and legally
travel. 

But he refuses to use them. 

Nasseri is convinced he has no official identity. If he leaves France,
he says, "There are soldiers there who shoot you dead." So he won't
venture further than the first floor of the terminal. "I stay until I
obtain my origin identity," he often repeats. 

Airport shopkeepers don't seem bothered by the fuss over their famous
neighbor. The cleaning staff warn that he'll charge a few euros if you
take his picture. But otherwise, "he never asks anything of anyone,"
says Mossaoid Ben, who runs the Coccimarket next door. 

Ben hypothesizes why Nasseri has remained in the dreary Charles de
Gaulle building, a kind of doughnut-shaped, concrete UFO stranded out on
the tarmac. "He'll have to pay rent elsewhere. Maybe that's why he's
here." 

Nasseri spends much of his day writing a journal of his self-imposed
captivity. "I write about what I hear on the news," he says. "The only
problem is I need a portable TV." 

In theory, he has plenty of money to buy one. DreamWorks, the company
that made "The Terminal," paid Nasseri for the use of his story. But he
doesn't have a bank account, so he can't access checks reportedly sent
to his lawyer. 

Nevertheless, he's enjoying the renewed burst of attention. He talks
wistfully of how he hopes to move to the United States or Canada. 

"I expect some change by October," he says. "In the end I will be
happy."

Attached Photo:

Iranian-born Merhan Karimi Nasseri has been living in a makeshift camp
inside Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport since 1988.

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