Full soundtrack by Ryan Probert can be found here: ruclips.net/video/xlof6HCUYRs/видео.html Notable Sources: “Sir Alfred Mehran of Charles de Gaulle Airport” (2000 film by Fictionville): ruclips.net/video/ngNP8ZNutNY/видео.html “Here to Where” (2001 film by Paul Berczeller): www.berczeller.com/?project=here-to-where “The Terminal Man” book: www.amazon.com/Terminal-Man-Alfred-Merhan-2004-09-06/dp/B01FKSUYYI/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=terminal+man+sir+alfred&qid=1592835856&sr=8-2 “The 15 Year Layover” by Michael Paterniti: www.gq.com/story/merhan-nasseri-charles-de-gaulle-stuck “The Man Who Lost His Past” by Paul Berczeller: www.theguardian.com/film/2004/sep/06/features.features11 “Sad Case of ‘Sir Alfred’...” by Lara Marlowe: www.irishtimes.com/news/sad-case-of-sir-alfred-who-has-tied-himself-to-an-airport-s-apron-strings-1.238081 “Waiting For Spielberg” by Matthew Rose: www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/magazine/waiting-for-spielberg.html Review/Synopsis of “The Terminal Man” by Stuart Wavell: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/memoir-the-terminal-man-by-sir-alfred-mehran-sxhvrht3wzt “Man in a suitcase” by Richard Johnson: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/man-in-a-suitcase-hes-the-latest-movie-star-a-squatter-who-has-lived-in-a-french-airport-for-more-than-14-years-p5dtr9zksv8 Hassan Al Kontar’s Twitter: twitter.com/Kontar81 (Stock clips provided by FreeStockVids.com, Shoot First Productions, BULLAKI, Crump Stock Footage )
Oh I'm such a fan of your channel. I've been watching since you released the video about the eggplant japanese guy. You have such a calming and soothing voice, I look forward to more uploads!
Couldn't they just do a DNA test with the mother in Scotland ? having a Scottish mother would have made him eligible for entry into the UK. He was no spring chicken and I wonder if his mother died during his long stay at the airport though. What an absolute mess. I hope he's ok right now.
Possible, if the rumours of buying his story were true, he had a lot of money to leave the airport, even buy the visa/citizenship of the country he wanted to go to.
There are prisoners who spend so long in prison they become institutionalized, unable to function in normal society where they have real freedom. I think this man is sort of the same way. He might've been afraid to leave, afraid of the world outside. In the airport he was safe, warm, dry, had people looking out for him, no bills to worry about, etc. Everything was more or less taken care of.
Airports are liminal spaces, time does not exist there. There is something surreal and unsettling about them. Being inside one for such an extended period of time would definitely do some things to your head.
It reminds me of a long stay in hospital when my daughter was born. I stayed in a unit next to the neonatal ward, her father did too though he would leave for work. It was like living in a bubble, everything I needed was there, cashpoint, post box, shops, hairdresser, cafes and restaurants. I lost track of the outside world, made freinds with staff, patients would come and then go. I remember a feeling of intense anxiety when it came to leaving. I can see how someone could become mentally stuck.
Honestly, despite this being a sad story, if you think about it the airport is the best place to spend time homeless honestly. Air conditioned, not exposed to the elements. Nobody questions you sleeping. There's bathrooms and it's not weird to brush your teeth.
There's a reason you don't see homeless people sleeping in airports. They can't. Security will probably question your reasons for staying inside the airport, and if you look homeless and without reason, you're probably going to get kicked out.
If I was held captive and tortured for a decent while because someone who rules the country didnt like what I might have said, I'd probably do the same.
He had a safe space...free room...free water...no bills...he loved it there and he wasnt leaving. Like he said..."I am home". He knew what he was doing. He was happy there and he wasnt leaving. He had his safe space living in an airport. Why go out in the real world to pay bills and loose all his money. Why get a job when he could live there and do anything he wanted...yup...he loved it there. He was happy there.
It really does make sense as to why he didn't want to leave. He came in in a vulnerable mental state, his situation lead to people pouring love on him so he latched onto that and, as he said, it became his home. He didn't know anything else for 11 years. Leaving would've meant losing everything and everyone he had
@Sean Livingston Excellent point. Hopefully he’s Sir Alfred knocking around in Paris somewhere. Certainly had plenty of money by the time he left the airport
The abandonment of his life seems to have been almost entirely his own doing. Before he even arrived in France he likely decided he wanted to leave his life behind. Whether his initial stranding in the airport was his own doing or an accident of circumstance is debatable, but it's clear at one point he decided he would actively resist any avenue of action that would allow him to leave, and that he intentionally sabotaged processes that could have gotten him out of there sooner, not just sooner than 2006, but sooner than 1999.
The mind is a fragile thing. It can break in strange and unpredictable ways, but more importantly, it can survive incredible things, sometimes by breaking.
“Mehran Karimi Nasseri died after a heart attack in the airport's Terminal 2F around midday, according an official with the Paris airport authority. Police and a medical team treated him but were not able to save him, the official said. “ Rest In Peace 😔
Also I'm thinking how he entered and fled to Spain without a passport It's a strange thing he had no documents even from iran?? and its also very sad that people alienated him and pushed him to depression and loneliness 🥹
Nah, just another freeloader who wanted to move to the US, Sweden or the U.K., where there is plentiful welfare and he could live without working just like he did in the airport. No empathy.
@@jasonblahafitness6349 you forget the part that he have plenty of money to live good were he wanted but he choose to live in airport that isn't a decision of someone who is ok mentally.
@@jasonblahafitness6349 lmao, you're a pathological liar and complete douchebag. Take your loser opinion elsewhere. www.quora.com/Who-is-Jason-Blaha-and-why-do-so-many-people-rag-on-him
I had no idea he willingly stayed after Getting his papers back. He definitely was lost in a fantasy he created and staying in the airport kept the fantasy legitimate.
@@Crabbadabba yeah man, thats strange, have you ever had to wait like 4 hrs for your plane? How fucking boring is that. Nów imagine spending 18 years there XD thats so fucked up it makes me laugh
@@kwaitefuni9152 Infrastructure and buildings didn't change that much in those 18 years, and neither did people. Small things changed, but we don't live in revolutionary times with big changes
I knew someone like this. A man, an animator. He was peculiar but talented and became famous for his smallscale sculptures and films. He lived his entire life in his head and rarely left the house he inherited from his dad. When he died of pneumonia complications, his work was moved to museums- something that he could never seem to coordinate while he was alive. I was fortunate to make the wax mixture that held his creations together while they were being restored.That would turn out to be a last goodbye. It is not known what caused the pneumonia, but I think it was his beloved clay that he gave so much life to. What cruel irony...
@@into.the.wood.chipper. yeah, I've learned to be a bit more cautious when dealing with anything that can give off particularly fine particles. If you're breathing that stuff in too often, you're just rolling the dice. I've had a nasty case of pneumonia before and it wasn't fun.
if you had watched the whole thing you would have learned his family came for him and he denied he knew who they were, basically because he is a pathological liar
that would actually blow my mind if i left for a plane flight seeing this man waiting for a flight, only to come back from my week long trip to see this dude still waiting.
I don't see how people don't understand how incredibly frightening the outside world must feel to someone who has been stuck in a place for so long. By the time he was able to leave, he had created a safe haven in his mind where he was comfortable. I wouldn't have left either. I used to live in my mind to deal with certain things in my life, and have slowly managed to come out of it. If I had been trapped in a building during that time, I probably would have completely lost my mind. This poor man.
Well said. I remember I was in prison for a while and my first day out was say 16 months in.... I didn't know what to get in the shop... I got anxious in them. I didn't know what to choose for a takeaway. And I vomited my pizza up after. I felt tired at the same time. I woke up at the same time. I felt too exposed. I had from 8am Friday until 8pm Saturday out and I went back at 5pm Saturday and just rushed inside. It was so unsettling. I got a few more days and weekends out and only did 2 years out of 4 but it took me a long time to re adjust. And I am a fairly hardy person. I absolutely agree with you and without a doubt he got 'institutionalised'. I knew some people there getting out after 10-15+ years and they are sweating, anxious wrecks coming back after their first few days out. I feel sorry for him of course but there are many, many things at play here and he didn't help himself whatsoever... But sure we can only speculate. I feel bad for his mother. Especially him saying what he said. We all only have one mam. Anyway great comment and all best from 🇮🇪
@@mccarthy5825 sorry you were in prison. It isn’t for me to judge what you did or didn’t do to end up 🆙 in there but I’m sorry about your experience in there even if some of it might’ve been your own fault.
@@PraveenSrJ01 thank you for your lovely comment. I am glad I went to prison because I got off heroin and it saved my life. I fully rake all responsibility for my actions and I cannot tell you how. Much it means to not be judged. Wishing you well from 🇮🇪 my friend
@@mccarthy5825 i'm glad you're here today. readjusting to regular life after getting out of prison is something i feel like nobody talks about enough, & being in that situation sounds terrifying. the first thing i thought of when i read the original comment is how it sounded like somebody getting out of prison. anyways, i hope you're doing good now
As someone who has worked in an international airport for over 5 years: there are a BUNCH of people in situations similar to this one out there right now. It’s actually very common.
Daniel Rocha Wait? Seriously? Is there anybody else with publicity right now that’s still stuck in an airport? Even if theirs only a handful of people stuck that’s way too many, somebody needs to be assigned to this sort of stuff
Daniel Rocha I've luckily never been in a situation like this but it seems like a big airport would offer the best quality of life over so many other choices.
@@limeadel303 it's not the exact same situation, but wei jianguo has been living in the beijing capital airport for like 12 years now because he had a fight with his wife and decided he just wouldn't go back. denis luiz de souza has been in sao paulo guarulhos airport for 20 years(?) because he had a poor home life and found the airport to be a safe place. these sorts of situations happen often, but not to THIS extent. people take refuge in airports quite a lot
Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended. Both France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but Nasseri refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (rather than British) and did not show his preferred name, "Sir Alfred Mehran". His refusal to sign the documents was much to the frustration of his lawyer, Bourget. When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted
think about it this way... that how horribly Iran, my country has turned into a hellhole under mullah's regime(with the help of the west) that a man will not budge living for 18 years in limbo but wont return to hell.
That could be a perfect summary of the whole situation. He def did not seem like a desperate person. A desperate person would make a big show to attract attention. He just settled into the situation and found it comfortable.
Almost made me cry. He came there in a very vulnerable emotional state, trying really hard to escape his past and make a new life. He wanted to escape so badly he eventually convinced himself of what he wanted to be true. And accepting his fantasy actually kept him from making it a reality. That's heartbreaking. I feel awful for the two men who tried to help him as well. They spent years trying to help him but mental illness got to him first. I'm sure they've shed their own tears over him.
It was of his own doing. His mother WAS his REAL mom. He was never arrested or tortured in Iran and his papers were NOT stolen...he mailed them to Brussels HIMSELF. (on a folly, he said). So the things he said for sympathy were NOT true. He made it up from the beginning. No one knows why.
Maybe it's just a prison syndrome, the uncertainty of the unknown, what was waiting for him outside... no home in Iran nor in England and 10 years of solitude can make u go nuts. No wonder his mind saw an opportunity to live another life. We will never be sure.
easier to get "accepted" living on the sidewalk of a city. In an airport most people are just trying to get to their flight, they don't really care about anybody living there
He got caught in the middle of a loop, and it wasn't too bad, so he forged a new identity 'cause the other one was awful, and lived as best as he could from that point forward. There's a lot of people in that same situation.
@@ToThoseWhoVanished Madness IS a escape from reality, but, in his case, it became reality. It was not just madness but sheer will that kept him in the airport. My point is: Sir Alfred was the better version of himself.
And you know someone there just went "Lol well it's not OUR fault. The country doesn't exist to go back to and he can't go forward." My question is where did he get money to pay for his food? Change like beggars get?
This is utterly depressing. Childhood trauma, adulthood trauma, inner loneliness, the lost meaning of life, lost motivation can do these types of misfortunes.
@@edwardschmitt5710 Abusers often resort to gaslighting and deny any of their wrongdoing, her words aren't definitive proof. Not saying she is one but a person's testimony alone doesn't prove anything
@@kaylaisnothere4397 Neither Mehran nor his siblings have ever made any accusations of abuse. The Paul Berczeller article notes that his siblings have successful middle class lives. Mehran on the other hand failed his university course (once again he lied that he ran out of money) and then spent the rest of his life acting out a delusion.
There's something about the choices he made and the way he changed into Sir Alfred that makes complete sense. As is said in the video, for years, he saw other people return back to their home and reach their destinations, while feeling that he had none or that it was taken away from him. It's a sort of emotional torture that he had to go through, or that he put himself through. The easiest way to resolve this unbearable situation was to adopt a new identity, one in which he was in charge of things, special and at home. He fulfilled a series of basic emotional needs, all by making this change of identity. After all, he did try to get to his destination again when he had first saved up enough money and was refused again. After that, he settled in the only place where he knew he belonged. It makes total sense to me.
How was it taken away from him though? The story about his biological mother is a lie. He knew who his real family was the whole time. He never had an identity taken away.
Read wiki about him. He was given citizenship by France and England both but he refused them as he wanted to become british. The stupidity of him is beyond comprehension. Would rather live in airport or in place where you wanna go under supervision.
It’s weird but somehow I get it. It’s almost like the feeling suicidal people describe where they don’t really want to die but they don’t want to keep living their life. Sometimes you just want to give up on work and school and rent and everything and quit with no responsibility, and he found a way to do that
@@The_Absurdistt Very True, he would have suffered in some form or another in pursuit of 200k like we all do. This man managed to raise enough money to afford a Home not a Mortgage but a home by doing absolutely nothing and not even having work papers. Maybe he isn't the crazy one.
@@thewildcardperson yeah, it's the people working there putting extra patties in his burgers that are feeding and helping the world, not the objectively horrible corporate monster they work for. mcdonalds exists to make money, and has really done nothing to benefit society (yes, I know they run charities, it's the least they could do after getting the public addicted to their drugfood)
not brushing the teeth often enough, or at least twice a day You must keep brushing teeth twice a day too keep it clean , Try not pay attention on the taste of the toothpaste, you will used to it after few day If you not keep brushing your teeth everyday, you will loss all your teeth in the young age like 25 something, I’m not scare you, it is the fact . Too much plaque . Tartar, bacteria will destroy your gums ，then teeth root. And now you already have at least 5 years old plaque bacteria in your teeth now , when you brushing teeth , trying to brush away these old plaque, off cause your gum will bleeding .
If being homeless wasn't a threat, if being unemployed wasn't a threat, if deportation wasn't a threat, I would have a hard time giving him a sane reason not to leave, but frankly, this was self-preservation.
He made 100s of thousands from this I'm sure he could afford a place, job, and he was offered to stay in france or belgium several times. The man was a lunatic.
He had a safe space and no bills...he wasnt going to leave somewhere where he was happy. He loved it there and he wasnt leaving it. Dude knew what he was doing and he liked the attention. It was his safe space and home. Why move out and have to get a job and pay bills. He was happy living in a airport. Good for him. He was a bum with all his needs met. That simple.
He reappeared recently and passed away at the airport. What a sad story. He never got the help he so desperately needed, I guess. I really want to know what he was up to between 2006-2022. May he finally be at peace. 😢❤
He got a doctor, legal representation and food. For free. What other help did he need? If you watched the video then it becomes clear that he did not really wanted any help, besides some handouts from strangers.
@@tomasviane3844 GETTING the actual help and being provided with help are two completely different things. And besides, who are we to say that he was given proper treatment off camera? He was out of the public eye for many years before his death.
@@tomasviane3844once out of the airport he likely didn't receive any support or mental health support, which he also didn't seem to receive in the airport. Why are so many people mad at other poor people now for getting a free McDonald's? You are the kind of people who are mad at homeless because, while they live on the streets, they get a free coffee and that makes you sick. Be angry at the rich, not the poor. People like you are weirdly, nearly always angry at people who have less than you do yourself as well.
He has no family and no identity except for a woman that may not even except him. He now has a home and an identity. Is it really your business to tell him hes just fucked up and its a sad story?
I feel bad for him and I wish he's okay now, though something tells me that he's beyond saving. Genuinely frightened that I can relate and understand how he feels and refusing to move on ..
He reportedly went back to the airport, by itself I guess, a few weeks / months ago, and he died recently, at the airport... The same airport... I heard about it in the news today, never heard of his story before... sad 😕
The Terminal 1 (where he was?) has been closed for years, due to the pandemic I think (less traffic...), and for works. I think he couldn't go back to the terminal 1, I'm not sure if it has reopened or not... Only the newer terminals 2 and 3 were still open
Was it really? That's surprising, I would think in a Parisian airport the ban would've come later. (Smoking has always been very popular in France, even today moreso than in other developed Western countries.) But it sounds from this video like it's undisputed that he had a health emergency--after all, that info didn't come from him as the media apparently lost track of him after that. Edit: One thing I wonder is, where was he getting his tobacco? Even pre-ban, it's odd to imagine pipe tobacco being sold in an airport. Cigarettes sure--even today, there's duty-free shops--but pipe tobacco? And before the movie deal, he was penniless, right? So somebody was giving him free pipe tobacco each day?
He’s a lot more relatable than we can imagine. When coming face to face with the world all you see is other people minding their own business & going to different places. Only difference is that he was in one spot for a chunk of his life.
this is the end credit scene of the film. he wakes up and is told where he is. and he is still not allowed outside due to what kept him in the airport.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the man who insipired Philippe Lioret for his movie « tombés du ciel » (fallen from the sky) in 1994 and later Spielberg for « the terminal », has sadly passed away at the age of 77 this 12 November 2022 after coming back to the airport, may his soul rest in peace, and may he find the trail of heaven.
I remember seeing this story on a TLC show back in the early 00's called "Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed" and I've been fascinated ever since. Thanks for covering it in-depth!
Towards the end of January 2007, he left the hospital and was looked after by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross; he was lodged for a few weeks in a hotel close to the airport. On 6 March 2007, he was transferred to an Emmaus charity reception-centre in Paris's 20th arrondissement. Since 2008, he has continued to live in a Paris shelter
@@aijazali455 this guy was satisfied with the attention he got from being stranded in an airport so it wouldn't suprise me if he hide from the public and enjoy a dencent meal, just so he could keep his image intact.
I find it fascinating from a sociological or even philosophic perspective of someone living in an archetypal example of what is called the “nonplace”, an airport. Spaces that are the open and transient liminal spots of global capital, commerce, travel, hospitals, hotels, etc. Places that surround us but are never “owned” or “dwelled in” (to use a heideggarian term) by people or communities. Sir Alfred himself by choice becomes the perfectly adapted to the nonplace, living as a stateless transient, homeless in every sense but not quite on the streets, but rather welded to the liminal environment around him. He suspended an identity, a home with roots and a place of dwelling for so long that he created a new identity out of his willful lack. I can’t help but think with the way things are going, there will be more rootless transience going from airport to airport. New age hobos that the modern world and late stage globalization has left behind.
@@benaldridge6341 Someone who only eats hedges. Heidegger, however, was a renowned philosopher and writer (often referenced by Monty Python.) Although I find Sir Alfred to be more a Kafkaesque character.
Courts should have declared him insane once he refused to accept his papers. The state would have become legally responsible for him and he would have been deported. This is/was bureaucratic madness.
I actually related a lot to the story. We may all find ourselves stuck in an airport at some point, perhaps more metaphorical rather than literal. In an unfortunate stagnant situation we might find comfort, unwilling to thrust ourseles forth to improve the situation
@George Ross Things like this can happen to anyone. After my Aunt's death when I was 62, two young adult boys I'd considered sons completely let me down. Am renting a room, waiting for my house to sell (difficult due to covid economy). Turning 65 next month. In limbo!
I think that it is possible that the reason we've not heard about him since is the people around him keeping his whereabouts from the media after he was finally moved so that he could ditch the Sir Alfred mentality and begin living a real life again; at least, that's what I hope.
The movie caused widespread interest but that interest began to fade as the movie's popularity passed. Sir Alfred wasn't interesting anymore by the time he left the airport.
To be honest, as someone with depression, I get it. It seems unlikely to me that he wanted fame, as much as understanding that entertaining celebrity would be the cost of staying indefinitely. You can really feel the annoyance at the people who want to help him leave, because in that context, it's easy to perceive it as "they're really not helping, they're just trying to feel better." Sir Alfred found a way to eke out an existence in a place without a home and without family or friends. The sheer dread and lack of motivation for daily life makes this situation really tempting. He could fully withdraw from society without dying on the street. That would be *incredibly* difficult for me to give up, frankly.
Agreed. I have serious mental health issues and have been deep in alcoholism and addiction and been homeless, and the lifestyle was actually fairly agreeable. Dropping out of society can be adapted to quickly for certain personality types. 😨
Some people say that when he spoke Bulgarian in the movie it was a really good Bulgarian accent, and I believe the comment came from someone in Bulgaria.
@@danirezaeva3934 I actually liked the Janitor from India most of all. That was a character I really connected with because he was a working class, law abiding citizen caring for his family. I also liked the wet floor signs that he would place down after mopping the floor, sit down and watch as people would walk by and slip, not paying attention to the signs and he would be laughing. I been working in retail close to 20 years now and get tired of us getting the blame put on us when the customer isn't paying attention. One even tried suing us because she tripped *over* the wet floor sign. 🤦
He had a bone tumor growing on his skull. Those can take decades to grow. Slowly placing pressure on the brain , destroying memories. I think he created the story about being tortured and expelled for no other reason than to get refugee status so Iran couldnt force him to return and be conscripted. Then the bone tumor started growing and he started making mistakes, one of those mistakes was mailing his papers to the wrong embassy. When he became trapped in De Gaulle and couldnt remember where he mailed his papers, he tried to scam his way into the UK by claiming he was the illegitimate son of a Scottish nurse...and when that didnt work then he was genuinely stuck. By the time his family found him his mental state had declined to the point that he couldnt recognize them and was terrified of leaving the only place he had a clear memory of. The next 12 years was him sitting on that red bench , trapped by his own mind.
@@seyedolshohadaBy 1979 he was so far gone he couldn't recognize his own mother. Near the end of his stay at the airport, you could actually see the bone tumor bulging on the top of his head. This looks like a genuine case of amnesia , where a person loses their memory to brain injury and he was left with only recent memories of the Airport and the stories he had told to customs officials.
Glenn very well done I would say after all I have seen and read you are right on!!! His brain was the issue!!! Too bad the airport Dr. didn't have a brain scan done. They could have determined the situation long ago and maybe had the tumor removed and the man could have returned to himself. If not at least they would know why and have him placed in a place he could retire rather than living on a bench.
I had my passport stolen in Beijing, fortunately I had copies of my passport secured and within a few days the American Embassy was able to help me leave the country. Always keep copies of your paperwork on your personal being.
I truly feel bad for Sir Alfred. Living alone in an airport like that has got to do something strange to your brain, especially if you also have a brain tumor. He genuinely seems like a kind and good person who got lost in a fantasy. I hope he is alive and well and living someplace safe.
Please continue to make documentaries like this! This is a masterpiece. Your voice is the most soothing one out of everyone who makes videos like this on youtube. Other channels have really intolerable voices i cant stand. Also the music used in this is so perfect and very calming. I usually cant focus long enough to stay interested in lengthy videos like this but, you got me
Of all the "dark" RUclipsrs (Nexpo, Whang, Reignbot, etc), you are most definitely my favorite, always the most consistently interesting and best written of the bunch. Keep it up
@@missvoorhees7964 i'd say more of the "rabbit hole" side of youtube and include guys like Fred Knudsen and Oki as well. They cover strange occurrences especially on the internet.
@@missvoorhees7964 Fine, I guess "fringe" would be a better term than dark because I was also including Fredrick Knudsen who isn't necessarily "dark" content
I really liked this piece, but I was thrown by how easily everyone, including the narrator, accepted Sir Alfred's families explanation. First the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime was a brutal and repressive monarchy, so it's plausible what Sir Alfred said happened to him, did. Second, it's clear that Sir Alfred had psychological issues, those usually don't just pop up cause you got stuck in an airport for years. Anyone with crappy parents knows that, childhood trauma makes you much less psychologically resilient later in life. Also, why would his family want to tell the truth? Why say bad things about themselves, especially knowing they'd be in the spotlight? Would you tell some random filmmaker from another country the dirty secrets of your family? I feel like this is a case of stigmatizing a person with mental illness and just writing him off as a liar because of it. Maybe Paul Berczellar went with it because he thought it made a better story. Documentary filmmakers do that all the time. I think this piece would have been a lot more impactful if we had a better understanding of Iran and what was going on while he was there. As well as taking what his family said about him with a large, large grain of salt.
He probably lied about everything just to gain attention. And his family flew to see him but he never acknowledged them. If you'd seen the documentary they showed the passport stamps on the siblings. They really went to see him. But what evidence does this "sir Alfred" that he was tortured? None. Just a bunch of lies to make him famous
Definitely “lying” (not in a malicious way but in a dissosiative way) about being half Swedish (no way, look at my man) and he’s lied about being robbed of the papers. Regardless I 100099% ageee with the comment, he’s definitely gone through some shit, a lot of shir and kinda sucks everyone is so quick to just be like he’s a sad delusional pathological liar.. like people don’t do that shit unless they’ve been through some shit. He clearly has. And agreed on family testimony. The real truth is probably somewhere in between, but what I can definitely conclude is he’s a victim of trauma and that’s what brought him to where he ended up
@@tahani3639 and the comments are more credible than the whole documentary and courts? If you choose to believe a liar then go. But the facts remain that he is Iranian and not British he faked everything to gain attention. He even denied his own iranian mother. Digusting, good for iran for not letting him back.
I was surprised at that. Most people would in that situation. Especially since he had little to do other than eat. He is a unique case. Part of the reason might be that his smoking suppressed his appetite.
The way this was delivered was so beautiful and well worked I swear you could do big things in 30 minutes you had me so captivated i wanna came back numerous times to show multiple people the breakdown I could just tell them the story and how he manipulated and lied but the way this broke it down was pure art
It sounds like a good story? It’s unique in it being a man living in an airport alone to be on the news. I really walked onto the short bus when I clicked this video huh
Terrific video, gorgeous music, wonderful narration! I've seen this video so many times, not only for the fascinating story, but something about this video feels calming and nostalgic.
13:24 "Alfred wanted it noted that he was born in Britain. He would also accept Sweden or the United States." Lol. This dude was playing "Deal or No Deal" with his existence.
It is possible that his mother said a rash sentence to him and he was offended by it . Maybe because of that the Iranian roots did not want to accept anymore
after a mental breakdown, i lived in a mental hospital for a whole year. what struck me the most, was that even though most of the permanent patients there were OBVIOUSLY OBVIOUSLY chronically mentally ailed, most of them still held great fears about ending up having to sleep and beg on the sidewalks. i remember how emotional and harrowing it seemed for those of us to simply just get transferred to a "more permanent" care facility, because really, how could you ever know if the next place is gonna be as safe as "here"?
Well as the cities and states in America go broke funding unnecessary things they’ve closed many of the mental institutions and just let the people go to live on the streets. Some go to outpatient facilities to get meds but most don’t. Our government has failed its people horribly
I think most people are like Sir Alfred than they realize, living a less than ideal life that they could easily change, if only their psyche let them. We are all limited by what our mind will let us do.
He wasn't limited though, we limited him. He was trying to move forward in his new identity and finally achieve what he had been working towards, and for some reason we wouldn't let him. Because he didn't have the papers. It's ridiculous even to type it! He was trapped in an airport because of lack of papers. Can you imagine a more nothingburger catalyst to your shunning from the world by the world?
@@tabathaogost4982 thank you for another insightful gem... I hadn't thought of it that way.. like wtf if the famous Sir of terminal 1 wants to be whomever he wants to be.. why didn't people celebrate that and help him in the way he wished to be loved.. So maybe... At times we dwell in mental spaces that are limited by what our minds perceive we can do.. Some of us create a world inside there that leaves us stuck Others of us envision a world outside there and pass thru either way it's a creation of our own.. In way it almost feels like he had an 18 year long Dark Night of the Soul.. We limited him mentally but physically there was a way out Idk know if I made sense but thanks again to both of you for Ur views which got me thinking
"living a less than ideal life " - it's a bit euphemistic if you look how people are living - but yes, probably most of us do that. When you've lost all your hope of exiting your prison, you begin to befriend with it.
@@daas3715 It would have been so easy to give him access to a land, just like they eventually did after he got sick. Somehow at that point, France was ok with letting him into Paris. But not earlier. They should apologize to him and give him enough money to live like a king for the rest of his life for what they did to him. He was wrongfully imprisoned by bureaucracy and lack of critical thinking.
I choked up a little bit when he said "this is loneliness...and not too happy.." at 5:25. The little half chuckle after, you can FEEL how lonely he was. Broke my damn heart.
lol being stuck in an airport is like the real world equivalent to surfing to an island and releasing all your pokemon, then saving the game. Its like a glitch or something. You could literally fly to an airport, burn your ID in the bathroom and be stuck there forever. wtf.
No, the airport can deport you back to your home country once they determine your identity. They did not deport Sir Alfred because why would you want to get rid of a highly profitable tourist attraction?
This is a toxic relationship between Alfred, and reality. He knows he can leave at any time, but has immense executive dysfunction. He knows he can leave, but he’s too afraid to accept his reality.
Its just reality that any years for people who live too long in certain strange places, once they get used to it, they called it home, but unlike prison, this man still has freedom, and certainly that freedom create a chaos towards identity
I can understand the feeling of security one may find in an ever shrinking daily life. Habits become almost compulsions, a day-to-day rhythm that must be upheld. To have one's whole universe on a bench in a place that never sleeps can perhaps feel very safe?
BeyondChange rent? Ferrari is a social housing project? guess his family owns properties in Iran, why should he rent? in Paris, nobody can pay that rent!
@@ramy9556 it IS heartbreaking. His life is just tragic. Before these events, he was NOT mentally ill. Now, he probably is mentally not normal anymore.
Full soundtrack by Ryan Probert can be found here:
ruclips.net/video/xlof6HCUYRs/видео.html
Notable Sources:
“Sir Alfred Mehran of Charles de Gaulle Airport” (2000 film by Fictionville): ruclips.net/video/ngNP8ZNutNY/видео.html
“Here to Where” (2001 film by Paul Berczeller): www.berczeller.com/?project=here-to-where
“The Terminal Man” book: www.amazon.com/Terminal-Man-Alfred-Merhan-2004-09-06/dp/B01FKSUYYI/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=terminal+man+sir+alfred&qid=1592835856&sr=8-2
“The 15 Year Layover” by Michael Paterniti: www.gq.com/story/merhan-nasseri-charles-de-gaulle-stuck
“The Man Who Lost His Past” by Paul Berczeller: www.theguardian.com/film/2004/sep/06/features.features11
“Sad Case of ‘Sir Alfred’...” by Lara Marlowe: www.irishtimes.com/news/sad-case-of-sir-alfred-who-has-tied-himself-to-an-airport-s-apron-strings-1.238081
“Waiting For Spielberg” by Matthew Rose: www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/magazine/waiting-for-spielberg.html
Review/Synopsis of “The Terminal Man” by Stuart Wavell: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/memoir-the-terminal-man-by-sir-alfred-mehran-sxhvrht3wzt
“Man in a suitcase” by Richard Johnson: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/man-in-a-suitcase-hes-the-latest-movie-star-a-squatter-who-has-lived-in-a-french-airport-for-more-than-14-years-p5dtr9zksv8
Hassan Al Kontar’s Twitter: twitter.com/Kontar81
(Stock clips provided by FreeStockVids.com, Shoot First Productions, BULLAKI, Crump Stock Footage
)
Defo happy you backbya vids are amazing:)
Oh I'm such a fan of your channel. I've been watching since you released the video about the eggplant japanese guy.
You have such a calming and soothing voice, I look forward to more uploads!
Big fan here. Good to see (hear?) you're doing fine in this times of general distress.
@Atrocity Guide Thanks cutie
Couldn't they just do a DNA test with the mother in Scotland ? having a Scottish mother would have made him eligible for entry into the UK. He was no spring chicken and I wonder if his mother died during his long stay at the airport though. What an absolute mess. I hope he's ok right now.
Trauma probably broke this guy so that by the time he was legally prepared to leave, he was no longer psychologically prepared to.
He'd been through something for sure.
Possible, if the rumours of buying his story were true, he had a lot of money to leave the airport, even buy the visa/citizenship of the country he wanted to go to.
That’s literally what they said in the video good job
Morgan Freeman: He had become... institutionalised.
@@AdnanKauser 😂😂
There are prisoners who spend so long in prison they become institutionalized, unable to function in normal society where they have real freedom. I think this man is sort of the same way. He might've been afraid to leave, afraid of the world outside. In the airport he was safe, warm, dry, had people looking out for him, no bills to worry about, etc. Everything was more or less taken care of.
Yep an endless loop, its quite as sad really
That's definitely what I was thinking, I feel so sad for him
Well fuckaroo why aren't we trying to fix this problem?
Yeah, learned helplessness. I wouldn't be surprised if he is a bit schizophrenic too.
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head.
Airports are liminal spaces, time does not exist there. There is something surreal and unsettling about them. Being inside one for such an extended period of time would definitely do some things to your head.
I read this in Nick Crowley's voice.
@@PaulRudd1941 Who cares?
@@atlantic_love account sharing goof.
@@PaulRudd1941 You can tell Kristy got this man by the balls when he don’t even make his own account 😂
It reminds me of a long stay in hospital when my daughter was born. I stayed in a unit next to the neonatal ward, her father did too though he would leave for work. It was like living in a bubble, everything I needed was there, cashpoint, post box, shops, hairdresser, cafes and restaurants. I lost track of the outside world, made freinds with staff, patients would come and then go. I remember a feeling of intense anxiety when it came to leaving. I can see how someone could become mentally stuck.
Sir Alfred passed away two days ago in Terminal 2F of Charles de Gaulle international airport in Paris at the age of 77.Rest in peace Sir Alfred.
So the man lost his mind after 10 years of living inside a airport? With no home no nothing? Who the hell wouldn’t?
😔
bd
I'm betting he was mentally ill to begin with, but this didn't help.
All the loneliness..can't imagine how he live his life without a family, home or a country. No wonder he is inventing a new character of himself..
18
Honestly, despite this being a sad story, if you think about it the airport is the best place to spend time homeless honestly. Air conditioned, not exposed to the elements. Nobody questions you sleeping. There's bathrooms and it's not weird to brush your teeth.
Yeah the TV set it sounds true I should go check it out
I’d take my chances outside tbh. People irritate me.
@@Pleasestoptalkingthanks Try being homeless first
I slep at the airport in Bangkok for three nights when I was running low on funds. COMFORTABLE !!@@!@
There's a reason you don't see homeless people sleeping in airports.
They can't.
Security will probably question your reasons for staying inside the airport, and if you look homeless and without reason, you're probably going to get kicked out.
Here’s the thing. France and Belgium offered him residency but he declined because the papers listed him as Iranian and not British.
If I was held captive and tortured for a decent while because someone who rules the country didnt like what I might have said, I'd probably do the same.
@@anaphylacticpete5788 well, the thing is nothing of that happened to him
Yes, this was mentioned in the video.
He had a safe space...free room...free water...no bills...he loved it there and he wasnt leaving. Like he said..."I am home". He knew what he was doing. He was happy there and he wasnt leaving. He had his safe space living in an airport. Why go out in the real world to pay bills and loose all his money. Why get a job when he could live there and do anything he wanted...yup...he loved it there. He was happy there.
@@anaphylacticpete5788 It's been confirmed that he made the stuff about the torture and his parentage up.
That picture of him looking at “The Terminal” movie poster is very impactful.
It really does make sense as to why he didn't want to leave. He came in in a vulnerable mental state, his situation lead to people pouring love on him so he latched onto that and, as he said, it became his home. He didn't know anything else for 11 years. Leaving would've meant losing everything and everyone he had
Beautifully said.
Probably had something to do with the huge growth on his head. Maybe it made him delusional?
YES..exactly!
@Sean Livingston
Excellent point.
Hopefully he’s Sir Alfred knocking around in Paris somewhere.
Certainly had plenty of money by the time he left the airport
The abandonment of his life seems to have been almost entirely his own doing. Before he even arrived in France he likely decided he wanted to leave his life behind. Whether his initial stranding in the airport was his own doing or an accident of circumstance is debatable, but it's clear at one point he decided he would actively resist any avenue of action that would allow him to leave, and that he intentionally sabotaged processes that could have gotten him out of there sooner, not just sooner than 2006, but sooner than 1999.
The mind is a fragile thing. It can break in strange and unpredictable ways, but more importantly, it can survive incredible things, sometimes by breaking.
I wouldn't call that survival
The most remarkable aspect of this story is surviving 18 years off McDonald's
Yeah but the lump growth on his head lead's to questions over his is Diet. 🤨
bopp9 There’s this thing going around with the supposed claim of human meat in American McDonalds as well as horse meat. Man you europeans are lucky.
Steven Diaz American food regulations are honestly scary.
@bopp9 yeah same here in aus, I'm curious about in n out and so on but.. I don't trust their foods
@bopp9 But it doesn't mean and a balanced diet.
“Mehran Karimi Nasseri died after a heart attack in the airport's Terminal 2F around midday, according an official with the Paris airport authority. Police and a medical team treated him but were not able to save him, the official said. “ Rest In Peace 😔
HIS NAME WAS "Sir Alfred Mehran" if you really want him to rest in peace then at least get his name CORRECTLY
He will always be in terminal 2F❤️
I pray his soul got to finally leave, that would be worse than Hell stuck in CDG for eternity.
THE FUCK WITH HIM
Also I'm thinking how he entered and fled to Spain without a passport It's a strange thing he had no documents even from iran?? and its also very sad that people alienated him and pushed him to depression and loneliness 🥹
Incredible how the mind can hold one hostage, in this case both psychologically and physically.
Z
Nah, just another freeloader who wanted to move to the US, Sweden or the U.K., where there is plentiful welfare and he could live without working just like he did in the airport. No empathy.
Incredible how without my glasses your profile picture looked like Johnny Bravo to me.
@@jasonblahafitness6349 you forget the part that he have plenty of money to live good were he wanted but he choose to live in airport that isn't a decision of someone who is ok mentally.
@@jasonblahafitness6349 lmao, you're a pathological liar and complete douchebag. Take your loser opinion elsewhere.
www.quora.com/Who-is-Jason-Blaha-and-why-do-so-many-people-rag-on-him
Such a strange story. Not sure whether to be sad, or frustrated, but wow, it made me feel something at least.
Why not both
John Doe yeesh... styrofoam 😬
shit got me angry, no mention of psychiatric help? he clearly needed it.
@John Doe lmao what the fuck?
John Doe you need help
I had no idea he willingly stayed after Getting his papers back. He definitely was lost in a fantasy he created and staying in the airport kept the fantasy legitimate.
I don't think it's a "fantasy" per se,he was obviously mentally ill
@@thepuppethead1188 Yeah I imagine spending a shitload of time in an airport like that can shatter the mind.
The Puppet Head I think he might have found his "zen", in some kind of way.
@@Crabbadabba yeah man, thats strange, have you ever had to wait like 4 hrs for your plane? How fucking boring is that. Nów imagine spending 18 years there XD thats so fucked up it makes me laugh
@@undergroundvideos1732 he had his pipe and books
18 years in an airport?
Imagine going outside and seeing how the world has greatly changed.
I don't think my mind could handle it.
He could see people using smart phones and internet.
@@ahmedzakikhan7639 yeah, but still. Imagine all the new infrastructure, buildings, and people
@@kwaitefuni9152 He probably didn't bother. If he did , he would have wanted to leave. He lived in his own world.
@@ahmedzakikhan7639 true
@@kwaitefuni9152 Infrastructure and buildings didn't change that much in those 18 years, and neither did people. Small things changed, but we don't live in revolutionary times with big changes
The day France told Alfred he can't smoke inside anymore, he left the building.
Nice 👌
🤣🤣🤣
Exactly what I was thinking
😅😅😅😅😅😅😄😄😄😄
Hahahaha
The fact that nobody kept in contact with him after and was quickly forgotten about proves why he probably never wanted to leave.
I knew someone like this. A man, an animator. He was peculiar but talented and became famous for his smallscale sculptures and films. He lived his entire life in his head and rarely left the house he inherited from his dad. When he died of pneumonia complications, his work was moved to museums- something that he could never seem to coordinate while he was alive. I was fortunate to make the wax mixture that held his creations together while they were being restored.That would turn out to be a last goodbye. It is not known what caused the pneumonia, but I think it was his beloved clay that he gave so much life to. What cruel irony...
@@into.the.wood.chipper. yeah, I've learned to be a bit more cautious when dealing with anything that can give off particularly fine particles. If you're breathing that stuff in too often, you're just rolling the dice. I've had a nasty case of pneumonia before and it wasn't fun.
@@into.the.wood.chipper. clay is wet and it's probably the catalyst to bacteria that causes his illness
if you had watched the whole thing you would have learned his family came for him and he denied he knew who they were, basically because he is a pathological liar
Every story has an end.
At the beginning; Doc: His physical health is great, mental not so much.
People after 10 years in a airport: Why won't he leave???
Gee I wonder.
Exactly.
@@Lolerstomp What I'm saying is he clearly had mental health issues to begin with and the airport made them worse, honestly its common sense.
he not long had a choice or a will.. he is just waiting to die...
I think you might've missed that he sabotaged himself by mailing his own documents to a belgian post office?
that would actually blow my mind if i left for a plane flight seeing this man waiting for a flight, only to come back from my week long trip to see this dude still waiting.
I don't see how people don't understand how incredibly frightening the outside world must feel to someone who has been stuck in a place for so long. By the time he was able to leave, he had created a safe haven in his mind where he was comfortable. I wouldn't have left either. I used to live in my mind to deal with certain things in my life, and have slowly managed to come out of it. If I had been trapped in a building during that time, I probably would have completely lost my mind. This poor man.
Well said. I remember I was in prison for a while and my first day out was say 16 months in.... I didn't know what to get in the shop... I got anxious in them. I didn't know what to choose for a takeaway. And I vomited my pizza up after. I felt tired at the same time. I woke up at the same time. I felt too exposed. I had from 8am Friday until 8pm Saturday out and I went back at 5pm Saturday and just rushed inside.
It was so unsettling. I got a few more days and weekends out and only did 2 years out of 4 but it took me a long time to re adjust. And I am a fairly hardy person.
I absolutely agree with you and without a doubt he got 'institutionalised'. I knew some people there getting out after 10-15+ years and they are sweating, anxious wrecks coming back after their first few days out.
I feel sorry for him of course but there are many, many things at play here and he didn't help himself whatsoever... But sure we can only speculate. I feel bad for his mother. Especially him saying what he said. We all only have one mam.
Anyway great comment and all best from 🇮🇪
@@mccarthy5825 sorry you were in prison. It isn’t for me to judge what you did or didn’t do to end up 🆙 in there but I’m sorry about your experience in there even if some of it might’ve been your own fault.
@@PraveenSrJ01 thank you for your lovely comment. I am glad I went to prison because I got off heroin and it saved my life. I fully rake all responsibility for my actions and I cannot tell you how. Much it means to not be judged. Wishing you well from 🇮🇪 my friend
@@mccarthy5825 i'm glad you're here today. readjusting to regular life after getting out of prison is something i feel like nobody talks about enough, & being in that situation sounds terrifying. the first thing i thought of when i read the original comment is how it sounded like somebody getting out of prison. anyways, i hope you're doing good now
Fat back account of his would certainly help
This made a more interesting story than the Spielberg movie.
@@HelenGPitts fuck u bot
@@HelenGPitts So is this a bot or what?
ya spielberg aint much of a storyteller, cant name a film of his i actually liked and wasnt normie pandering garbage
@@HelenGPitts tell me more, bot.
@@agnusdei3575 leave it to a fucking weeb to call Spielberg's movies "normie pandering garbage". That's some nasty cringe
As someone who has worked in an international airport for over 5 years: there are a BUNCH of people in situations similar to this one out there right now. It’s actually very common.
Daniel Rocha Wait? Seriously? Is there anybody else with publicity right now that’s still stuck in an airport? Even if theirs only a handful of people stuck that’s way too many, somebody needs to be assigned to this sort of stuff
Daniel Rocha I've luckily never been in a situation like this but it seems like a big airport would offer the best quality of life over so many other choices.
@@limeadel303 it's not the exact same situation, but wei jianguo has been living in the beijing capital airport for like 12 years now because he had a fight with his wife and decided he just wouldn't go back. denis luiz de souza has been in sao paulo guarulhos airport for 20 years(?) because he had a poor home life and found the airport to be a safe place.
these sorts of situations happen often, but not to THIS extent. people take refuge in airports quite a lot
@@angelwings1979 yeah but how long will you last without money?
i would imagine at least some people passing by would give money, or if talking to them and realizing the struggle, provide small help
Attempts were then made to have new documents issued from Belgium, but the authorities there would do so only if Nasseri presented himself in person. In 1995, the Belgian authorities granted permission for him to travel to Belgium, but only if he agreed to live there under supervision of a social worker. Nasseri refused this on the grounds of wanting to enter the UK as originally intended.
Both France and Belgium offered Nasseri residency, but Nasseri refused to sign the papers as they listed him as being Iranian (rather than British) and did not show his preferred name, "Sir Alfred Mehran". His refusal to sign the documents was much to the frustration of his lawyer, Bourget. When contacted about Nasseri's situation, his family stated that they believed he was living the life he wanted
think about it this way...
that how horribly Iran, my country has turned into a hellhole under mullah's regime(with the help of the west) that a man will not budge living for 18 years in limbo but wont return to hell.
That could be a perfect summary of the whole situation. He def did not seem like a desperate person. A desperate person would make a big show to attract attention. He just settled into the situation and found it comfortable.
Morgan Spurlock - "I'm Gonna eat McDonalds everyday for a month!"
Sir Alfred - "Hold my passport."
🤣
It was stolen tho
@@ivanlozano2019 No, it wasn't. He mailed them to Belgium officials. His entire life is a fraud.
@@chrimony forgot quotes, he wouldn't of said hold my passport because he said it was stolen
This wins the comment section.
Almost made me cry. He came there in a very vulnerable emotional state, trying really hard to escape his past and make a new life. He wanted to escape so badly he eventually convinced himself of what he wanted to be true. And accepting his fantasy actually kept him from making it a reality. That's heartbreaking. I feel awful for the two men who tried to help him as well. They spent years trying to help him but mental illness got to him first. I'm sure they've shed their own tears over him.
Your description matches with some of the symptoms of schizophrenia
@@ThePhallusAnnihilators Now that I think of it kinda. My mom has schizophrenia and often has delusions of grandeur. Same with my older brother.
It was of his own doing. His mother WAS his REAL mom. He was never arrested or tortured in Iran and his papers were NOT stolen...he mailed them to Brussels HIMSELF. (on a folly, he said). So the things he said for sympathy were NOT true. He made it up from the beginning. No one knows why.
@@edwardseverinsen5598 That's called "Narcissistic Personality Disorder"
@@Susan2361 wait how
The airport was probably the first place where he felt accepted by people around him in his life, and that's rather sad.
Maybe it's just a prison syndrome, the uncertainty of the unknown, what was waiting for him outside... no home in Iran nor in England and 10 years of solitude can make u go nuts. No wonder his mind saw an opportunity to live another life. We will never be sure.
I think he was probably pitied more than accepted.
easier to get "accepted" living on the sidewalk of a city. In an airport most people are just trying to get to their flight, they don't really care about anybody living there
He got caught in the middle of a loop, and it wasn't too bad, so he forged a new identity 'cause the other one was awful, and lived as best as he could from that point forward. There's a lot of people in that same situation.
In other words madness can be created to escape reality.
@@ToThoseWhoVanished Madness IS a escape from reality, but, in his case, it became reality. It was not just madness but sheer will that kept him in the airport. My point is: Sir Alfred was the better version of himself.
@@HittokiriBattousai17 a false version tho. We can live our fantasy and still not be a part of it. That's what this is about.
The poor man clearly lost his mind. Someone should have taken action alot earlier.
He was obviously unwell even before he arrived at the airport.
Do you pay for your travel expecting to miss it? Everyone in airports need to look out for themselves too.
And you know someone there just went "Lol well it's not OUR fault. The country doesn't exist to go back to and he can't go forward."
My question is where did he get money to pay for his food? Change like beggars get?
@UCcY4vgAbG1ozUm37JpysMkQ Watch the video dumbass
Well the circumstances of how he even got there in the first place are strange
This is utterly depressing. Childhood trauma, adulthood trauma, inner loneliness, the lost meaning of life, lost motivation can do these types of misfortunes.
The thing I just watched concluded his "trauma" was all made up. His mom was heartbroken when she heard the lies he spewed about her.
@@edwardschmitt5710 Abusers often resort to gaslighting and deny any of their wrongdoing, her words aren't definitive proof. Not saying she is one but a person's testimony alone doesn't prove anything
@@kaylaisnothere4397 then go with your argument, his one single accusation also does not do anything
Well put.
@@kaylaisnothere4397 Neither Mehran nor his siblings have ever made any accusations of abuse. The Paul Berczeller article notes that his siblings have successful middle class lives. Mehran on the other hand failed his university course (once again he lied that he ran out of money) and then spent the rest of his life acting out a delusion.
They never replaced the airport furniture for at least 18 years.
Probably just didn't replace that specific bench because there was a crazy guy sitting on it 24/7 for the better part of 20 years.
I wonder what that Bench smelled like.
Garry Sekelli old man balls. Come on we all know.
ocelot. The video said it was dismantled
Adam Kostura these people didn’t watch the video
There's something about the choices he made and the way he changed into Sir Alfred that makes complete sense. As is said in the video, for years, he saw other people return back to their home and reach their destinations, while feeling that he had none or that it was taken away from him. It's a sort of emotional torture that he had to go through, or that he put himself through. The easiest way to resolve this unbearable situation was to adopt a new identity, one in which he was in charge of things, special and at home. He fulfilled a series of basic emotional needs, all by making this change of identity. After all, he did try to get to his destination again when he had first saved up enough money and was refused again. After that, he settled in the only place where he knew he belonged. It makes total sense to me.
Those are some really good points you make. In the end probably due to his emotion he had to adopt.
How was it taken away from him though? The story about his biological mother is a lie. He knew who his real family was the whole time. He never had an identity taken away.
Read wiki about him. He was given citizenship by France and England both but he refused them as he wanted to become british. The stupidity of him is beyond comprehension. Would rather live in airport or in place where you wanna go under supervision.
@@crystalnero1877 if he accepted England's citizenship, doesn't that make him British?
@@crystalnero1877 he’s clearly not mentally stable.
It’s weird but somehow I get it. It’s almost like the feeling suicidal people describe where they don’t really want to die but they don’t want to keep living their life. Sometimes you just want to give up on work and school and rent and everything and quit with no responsibility, and he found a way to do that
And he became wealthy.
@@ianmiles2505 what a scam
He's genius. He figured out how to become somewhat of a celebrity and make a bunch of money by doing nothing. Genius....
Deep
@@The_Absurdistt Very True, he would have suffered in some form or another in pursuit of 200k like we all do.
This man managed to raise enough money to afford a Home not a Mortgage but a home by doing absolutely nothing and not even having work papers.
Maybe he isn't the crazy one.
McDonalds -- the food of stranded refugees worldwide
Makes you think doesn’t it how who really helps feed and help the world
And shout-out to those employees who I am sure were hooking him up with food before he got money
Para papa Papa.. I am loving it!!!
thewildcard person are you implying that McDonald’s is helping the world?... lmao
@@thewildcardperson yeah, it's the people working there putting extra patties in his burgers that are feeding and helping the world, not the objectively horrible corporate monster they work for. mcdonalds exists to make money, and has really done nothing to benefit society (yes, I know they run charities, it's the least they could do after getting the public addicted to their drugfood)
Kudos to people who helped him in the airport
When I saw the title, you had my curiosity, but when I realized it was a new Atrocity Guide video, you had my attention.
Curiosity requires your attention.
0123four stfu
not brushing the teeth often enough, or at least twice a day
You must keep brushing teeth twice a day too keep it clean ,
Try not pay attention on the taste of the toothpaste, you will used to it after few day
If you not keep brushing your teeth everyday, you will loss all your teeth in the young age like 25 something, I’m not scare you, it is the fact . Too much plaque . Tartar, bacteria will destroy your gums ，then teeth root.
And now you already have at least 5 years old plaque bacteria in your teeth now , when you brushing teeth , trying to brush away these old plaque, off cause your gum will bleeding .
ThisIsMyRealName for comebacks to be clever, they require a clear relevance
ThisIsMyRealName so what you’re saying is I’m right, thx xx
If being homeless wasn't a threat, if being unemployed wasn't a threat, if deportation wasn't a threat, I would have a hard time giving him a sane reason not to leave, but frankly, this was self-preservation.
He made 100s of thousands from this I'm sure he could afford a place, job, and he was offered to stay in france or belgium several times.
The man was a lunatic.
He had a safe space and no bills...he wasnt going to leave somewhere where he was happy. He loved it there and he wasnt leaving it. Dude knew what he was doing and he liked the attention. It was his safe space and home.
Why move out and have to get a job and pay bills. He was happy living in a airport. Good for him. He was a bum with all his needs met. That simple.
@@alexsm3882 Nobody wants to hire a "madman" or a "bum" with a huge gap in his CV, who was likely to have major issues reintegrating into society.
He'd be on the welfare cushion like the rest are once he left that place but he was too crazy to know or want it?
"A lone man hiding in plane sight."
I see what you did there.
boo
🤣😀🤣😝👍
Good ones haha
😂
Ha
He reappeared recently and passed away at the airport. What a sad story. He never got the help he so desperately needed, I guess. I really want to know what he was up to between 2006-2022. May he finally be at peace. 😢❤
he got all the help, wtf are you talking about
@@lenas6246why are you mad? Is everything ok?
He got a doctor, legal representation and food. For free. What other help did he need?
If you watched the video then it becomes clear that he did not really wanted any help, besides some handouts from strangers.
@@tomasviane3844
GETTING the actual help and being provided with help are two completely different things. And besides, who are we to say that he was given proper treatment off camera? He was out of the public eye for many years before his death.
@@tomasviane3844once out of the airport he likely didn't receive any support or mental health support, which he also didn't seem to receive in the airport.
Why are so many people mad at other poor people now for getting a free McDonald's? You are the kind of people who are mad at homeless because, while they live on the streets, they get a free coffee and that makes you sick.
Be angry at the rich, not the poor. People like you are weirdly, nearly always angry at people who have less than you do yourself as well.
The mind is more fragile then we think. This is very sad when people are willing to help you and your own mind won't allow it.
Than
Mental illness is a bitch.
@@African.empress , iiiiiu,666⁶
He has no family and no identity except for a woman that may not even except him. He now has a home and an identity. Is it really your business to tell him hes just fucked up and its a sad story?
@@melody3741 He is fucked up and its a sad story. The guy was clearly nuts.
It’s comforting knowing that no matter how bad life can get, I can always just go live at the airport.
This is a French surrealist's version of the Odyssey.
😱
Just a short trip.
Well said
best comment
You might be onto something here... The timespan of the narrative, the matter of forged identity, the escape from a war zone. It all kinda matches
I feel bad for him and I wish he's okay now, though something tells me that he's beyond saving. Genuinely frightened that I can relate and understand how he feels and refusing to move on ..
He reportedly went back to the airport, by itself I guess, a few weeks / months ago, and he died recently, at the airport...
The same airport...
I heard about it in the news today, never heard of his story before... sad 😕
The Terminal 1 (where he was?) has been closed for years, due to the pandemic I think (less traffic...), and for works.
I think he couldn't go back to the terminal 1, I'm not sure if it has reopened or not...
Only the newer terminals 2 and 3 were still open
I bet the real reason he left in 2006 was because that was when they banned smoking in the airport.
Was it really? That's surprising, I would think in a Parisian airport the ban would've come later. (Smoking has always been very popular in France, even today moreso than in other developed Western countries.) But it sounds from this video like it's undisputed that he had a health emergency--after all, that info didn't come from him as the media apparently lost track of him after that.
Edit: One thing I wonder is, where was he getting his tobacco? Even pre-ban, it's odd to imagine pipe tobacco being sold in an airport. Cigarettes sure--even today, there's duty-free shops--but pipe tobacco? And before the movie deal, he was penniless, right? So somebody was giving him free pipe tobacco each day?
LOL!!! 😂😅😆 PROBABLY!!!
@@aspiringmultiplicity I'm sure airport employees probably made sure he was comfortable I bet it was quite an amusement.
I've watched The Terminal (2004) and felt that was pretty mad.
Once again reality turns out way crazier than fiction.
Same great movie
i didn't know it was a true story lol That is where they got the idea i believe
Viktor Navorski from Krakozhia!!
He’s a lot more relatable than we can imagine. When coming face to face with the world all you see is other people minding their own business & going to different places. Only difference is that he was in one spot for a chunk of his life.
18 years in an airport? Must've been an American Airlines layover.
Well played sir.
That hits way to close to home for me to find that comment funny.
So this guy is a bum and never worked a job, and lived off of people’s kindness. This dude seems like a piece of shit to me.
@@thesuperiorspyderdan9470 And you sound like one to me
@@thesuperiorspyderdan9470 God you're such an insensitive asshole
The work to put into this is amazing! Well worth the wait.
27:42
"Sir Alfred remained in the hospital for several months..."
Aww shit, here we go again
lol
this is the end credit scene of the film. he wakes up and is told where he is. and he is still not allowed outside due to what kept him in the airport.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the man who insipired Philippe Lioret for his movie « tombés du ciel » (fallen from the sky) in 1994 and later Spielberg for « the terminal », has sadly passed away at the age of 77 this 12 November 2022 after coming back to the airport, may his soul rest in peace, and may he find the trail of heaven.
I remember seeing this story on a TLC show back in the early 00's called "Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed" and I've been fascinated ever since. Thanks for covering it in-depth!
how did you comment before it was released
@@tux1468 Patrons get to see the Video Unlisted and Before Release
Holy shit id totally forgot about how much I loved that show as a kid
Towards the end of January 2007, he left the hospital and was looked after by the airport's branch of the French Red Cross; he was lodged for a few weeks in a hotel close to the airport. On 6 March 2007, he was transferred to an Emmaus charity reception-centre in Paris's 20th arrondissement. Since 2008, he has continued to live in a Paris shelter
a few weeks ago, he returned to the airport. he died of a heart attack yesterday at 77 years old. rest in peace
@@strawberiee Yes, he did. Read it yesterday.
@@strawberiee I guess airport was his safe haven I guess
@@n.552I don't think people watched the whole video.
@belltowndaisyYou didn’t watch the whole video. His story about his mother was part of the Sir Alfred identity fabrication.
This is probably the longest McDonald's commercial ever..
Was it a real fish though?? 😂😂😂
I think he might have had some decent meals here and there. Its not like he didn't have money.
But how could he afford that , if its in the video i have not watched it full yet .
@@aijazali455 this guy was satisfied with the attention he got from being stranded in an airport so it wouldn't suprise me if he hide from the public and enjoy a dencent meal, just so he could keep his image intact.
ARISTON RUSAL kind of make sense but was he getting free meals ?
After being looked after by the French Red Cross, Sir Alfred was transferred to a homeless reception centre in Paris, where he has lived since 2008.
All they had to do was to move him else where.
And then he died November 12 2022
They didn't help him all that much, since he returned to the airport, where he then died of a heart attack.
This was great. thanks for making it
RegularCars Doubt you’ll see this but my dad use to love your videos. He was the son of the driver of Emergency West if you’ve heard of it
You're the reason I bought my 89 mk1 mr2 SC! Thank you, thank you, thank you, so much for making your reviews!
Glad someone I watch is also watching what I watch. Cheers
My airport is best airport because I’ve been living here for 18 years.
Dude was living in an airport for 16 years and potentially got paid half a mil for it. What are we doing with our lives
I find it fascinating from a sociological or even philosophic perspective of someone living in an archetypal example of what is called the “nonplace”, an airport. Spaces that are the open and transient liminal spots of global capital, commerce, travel, hospitals, hotels, etc. Places that surround us but are never “owned” or “dwelled in” (to use a heideggarian term) by people or communities. Sir Alfred himself by choice becomes the perfectly adapted to the nonplace, living as a stateless transient, homeless in every sense but not quite on the streets, but rather welded to the liminal environment around him.
He suspended an identity, a home with roots and a place of dwelling for so long that he created a new identity out of his willful lack.
I can’t help but think with the way things are going, there will be more rootless transience going from airport to airport. New age hobos that the modern world and late stage globalization has left behind.
Damn
What is a hedgarian
@@benaldridge6341 Someone who only eats hedges.
Heidegger, however, was a renowned philosopher and writer (often referenced by Monty Python.)
Although I find Sir Alfred to be more a Kafkaesque character.
So Alfred was the Zack and Cody of airports?
Wow bro you watched a recommenced RUclips video too? Damn you are smart
The French probably thought it was performance art.
Bwahahaha this is brutal
lmao :D
rofl
🤣🤣🤣
Good one lol
Courts should have declared him insane once he refused to accept his papers. The state would have become legally responsible for him and he would have been deported. This is/was bureaucratic madness.
"How did you acquire the title 'Sir'?"
"By virtue."
😎😎😎
I actually related a lot to the story. We may all find ourselves stuck in an airport at some point, perhaps more metaphorical rather than literal. In an unfortunate stagnant situation we might find comfort, unwilling to thrust ourseles forth to improve the situation
Sir, this is a Wendy’s
What is your story?
@George Ross why? what happened?
@George Ross thanks for sharing
@George Ross Things like this can happen to anyone. After my Aunt's death when I was 62, two young adult boys I'd considered sons completely let me down. Am renting a room, waiting for my house to sell (difficult due to covid economy). Turning 65 next month. In limbo!
I think that it is possible that the reason we've not heard about him since is the people around him keeping his whereabouts from the media after he was finally moved so that he could ditch the Sir Alfred mentality and begin living a real life again; at least, that's what I hope.
I really, really hope this is true, that he finally found some measure of peace.
I also think thats the case lets hope the poor guy finally found some peace
But, if he left, ( idk :p ) why and when? :O
The movie caused widespread interest but that interest began to fade as the movie's popularity passed. Sir Alfred wasn't interesting anymore by the time he left the airport.
You know they either threw him to the street or to some mental hospital. There is no way that man would leave the airport, it was his home.
To be honest, as someone with depression, I get it. It seems unlikely to me that he wanted fame, as much as understanding that entertaining celebrity would be the cost of staying indefinitely. You can really feel the annoyance at the people who want to help him leave, because in that context, it's easy to perceive it as "they're really not helping, they're just trying to feel better."
Sir Alfred found a way to eke out an existence in a place without a home and without family or friends. The sheer dread and lack of motivation for daily life makes this situation really tempting. He could fully withdraw from society without dying on the street. That would be *incredibly* difficult for me to give up, frankly.
Agreed. I have serious mental health issues and have been deep in alcoholism and addiction and been homeless, and the lifestyle was actually fairly agreeable. Dropping out of society can be adapted to quickly for certain personality types. 😨
The worst part about this was Tom Hanks' "accent"
I think it was supposed to be a bad accent for scenes in the movie, meaning it was intentional. Damn, I sure hope so.
Some people say that when he spoke Bulgarian in the movie it was a really good Bulgarian accent, and I believe the comment came from someone in Bulgaria.
Huh
His bulgarian accent was actually pretty good. I just don’t like how they whitewashed the film
@@danirezaeva3934 I actually liked the Janitor from India most of all. That was a character I really connected with because he was a working class, law abiding citizen caring for his family.
I also liked the wet floor signs that he would place down after mopping the floor, sit down and watch as people would walk by and slip, not paying attention to the signs and he would be laughing. I been working in retail close to 20 years now and get tired of us getting the blame put on us when the customer isn't paying attention. One even tried suing us because she tripped *over* the wet floor sign. 🤦
He had a bone tumor growing on his skull.
Those can take decades to grow.
Slowly placing pressure on the brain , destroying memories.
I think he created the story about being tortured and expelled for no other reason than to get refugee status so Iran couldnt force him to return and be conscripted.
Then the bone tumor started growing and he started making mistakes, one of those mistakes was mailing his papers to the wrong embassy.
When he became trapped in De Gaulle and couldnt remember where he mailed his papers, he tried to scam his way into the UK by claiming he was the illegitimate son of a Scottish nurse...and when that didnt work then he was genuinely stuck.
By the time his family found him his mental state had declined to the point that he couldnt recognize them and was terrified of leaving the only place he had a clear memory of.
The next 12 years was him sitting on that red bench , trapped by his own mind.
@@seyedolshohadaBy 1979 he was so far gone he couldn't recognize his own mother.
Near the end of his stay at the airport, you could actually see the bone tumor bulging on the top of his head.
This looks like a genuine case of amnesia , where a person loses their memory to brain injury and he was left with only recent memories of the Airport and the stories he had told to customs officials.
@@seyedolshohada What I said was he fabricated the story to avoid conscription.
Then the bone tumor began growing and he started believing it.
Well said. Good summary.
I was thinking the same.
Glenn very well done I would say after all I have seen and read you are right on!!! His brain was the issue!!! Too bad the airport Dr. didn't have a brain scan done. They could have determined the situation long ago and maybe had the tumor removed and the man could have returned to himself. If not at least they would know why and have him placed in a place he could retire rather than living on a bench.
If this guy existed today he’d have a kickstarter with at least 1 million in it
or an OnlyFans
@@jakefoley9539 Mmm feet pics
Yea oops i think i meant go fund me. Whatever the one where other ppl can make it for u
It doesn't matter. If you listen to the narrative, he had a bank account with money. He didn't want to leave.
@@adc2327 it doesnt matter. someone would have still made the gofund me
RIP Mehran Karimi Nasseri. It wasn't a happy ending, as he expected.
I guess if he ever got homesick he could say he was terminally ill
LOL
LOL HAHAHAHA
Lmao
That was actually pretty good
😂😭👏👏👏
I had my passport stolen in Beijing, fortunately I had copies of my passport secured and within a few days the American Embassy was able to help me leave the country. Always keep copies of your paperwork on your personal being.
And why dovthey steal passport?
@John Smith omg!ihave to be very carefull with my pport now coz im careless
@@azzalali4772 Lol, you must be Somali, right?
@@GnosticCushite why?? Are somali careless? lol.
Yes, wise to have copies but best to keep your passport on your body.
Met the guy a couple of times. He was always grateful if you could give him writing paper.
Thanks for keeping him company. 😊
Rest in Peace. I didn’t know you or your motivations but they must have been strong to have kept you there for so long.
He was mentally ill
I truly feel bad for Sir Alfred. Living alone in an airport like that has got to do something strange to your brain, especially if you also have a brain tumor. He genuinely seems like a kind and good person who got lost in a fantasy. I hope he is alive and well and living someplace safe.
Hi Rose
He’s dead and he lied about everything. 11/12/22. Rip.
Please continue to make documentaries like this! This is a masterpiece. Your voice is the most soothing one out of everyone who makes videos like this on youtube. Other channels have really intolerable voices i cant stand. Also the music used in this is so perfect and very calming. I usually cant focus long enough to stay interested in lengthy videos like this but, you got me
Saw him a few times in early 2000’s flying in and out of CDG airport frequently. Every time I saw him he did have McDonald’s and his pipe.
Interesting, dude.
That’s mad that!
Sure you did chum....
Sure you did
Belm
What a story... 18 years! RIP Mehran Karimi Nasseri
Why no one is talking about the red bench? My god it survived for 18 years with so much luggage on it..... Really a master piece 😁😉
They got them in IKEA, flat pack form, you have to build them 😀😀
lol lol lol can’t say nothing
That is the miracle of hauganyde fabric!
....the REAL victim here 😂
@@prairiewolfedogg naugahyde
Imagine that, instead of traveling to see the world, the world traveled to see you.
In russia the world sees you
That's poetic in a way
Kryptnyt sounds like Rod Sterling couldn’t have written it better!
Perfect analogy
I love it
Karim Mehran deserves an Oscar and a Lifetime achievement award for his role as Sir Alfred
🤣😂😅🤣😂😅🤣😂
Haha hahaha hahahahahah
@Dangerz Own it's Sir Alfred's birth name; the gentleman who lived in the airport!
@Dangerz Own Yeah, Mehran is fantastic. There's a crazy fascinating documentary about this guy. Use watch?v=JQfXd1YlkS4&ab
Opened a bank account without ID bwahahahaa deposit only option
Thank you for creating these amazing docu films. I am currently going through your catalogue for the third, or four time.
At least he didn't stay in my woods for 18 years
I've actually found people trying to live out here before
so do you sneak into the library at night to use the computer or something?
How do you get internet access out thete
Nice bit
@@in_the_pines he just said he caught some people trying to live out there
That's what happens when you don't use a VPN. "We got him, boys!"
i watched everything and then almost choked when the narrator losely said "oh and btw this other guy spent 20 years in an airport as well"
Of all the "dark" RUclipsrs (Nexpo, Whang, Reignbot, etc), you are most definitely my favorite, always the most consistently interesting and best written of the bunch. Keep it up
Since when has whang been a 'dark youtuber'? The guy covers stuff like the mlp cum jar ffs 😂
I think the calm voice and sympathy to tragedy helps a lot with atrocity guide.
@@missvoorhees7964 I'd say that's awful dark.
@@missvoorhees7964 i'd say more of the "rabbit hole" side of youtube and include guys like Fred Knudsen and Oki as well. They cover strange occurrences especially on the internet.
@@missvoorhees7964 Fine, I guess "fringe" would be a better term than dark because I was also including Fredrick Knudsen who isn't necessarily "dark" content
I really liked this piece, but I was thrown by how easily everyone, including the narrator, accepted Sir Alfred's families explanation. First the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi regime was a brutal and repressive monarchy, so it's plausible what Sir Alfred said happened to him, did. Second, it's clear that Sir Alfred had psychological issues, those usually don't just pop up cause you got stuck in an airport for years. Anyone with crappy parents knows that, childhood trauma makes you much less psychologically resilient later in life. Also, why would his family want to tell the truth? Why say bad things about themselves, especially knowing they'd be in the spotlight? Would you tell some random filmmaker from another country the dirty secrets of your family? I feel like this is a case of stigmatizing a person with mental illness and just writing him off as a liar because of it. Maybe Paul Berczellar went with it because he thought it made a better story. Documentary filmmakers do that all the time.
I think this piece would have been a lot more impactful if we had a better understanding of Iran and what was going on while he was there. As well as taking what his family said about him with a large, large grain of salt.
Why would he mail his papers to Belgium when he was about to travel London? Something wasn't right in his head to begin with
He probably lied about everything just to gain attention. And his family flew to see him but he never acknowledged them. If you'd seen the documentary they showed the passport stamps on the siblings. They really went to see him. But what evidence does this "sir Alfred" that he was tortured? None. Just a bunch of lies to make him famous
Definitely “lying” (not in a malicious way but in a dissosiative way) about being half Swedish (no way, look at my man) and he’s lied about being robbed of the papers.
Regardless I 100099% ageee with the comment, he’s definitely gone through some shit, a lot of shir and kinda sucks everyone is so quick to just be like he’s a sad delusional pathological liar.. like people don’t do that shit unless they’ve been through some shit. He clearly has. And agreed on family testimony. The real truth is probably somewhere in between, but what I can definitely conclude is he’s a victim of trauma and that’s what brought him to where he ended up
@@AllohaAllohaSnackbar have you red any thing in the comment you’re replying too?!!!!!!
@@tahani3639 and the comments are more credible than the whole documentary and courts? If you choose to believe a liar then go. But the facts remain that he is Iranian and not British he faked everything to gain attention. He even denied his own iranian mother. Digusting, good for iran for not letting him back.
At least he proved that you can eat mcdonald's everyday without getting fat
yea but at the end of the day it’s calories in calories out so he was most likely in a caloric deficit
Not to forget the tumor that grew on his head. And aprt from that psychological disorders
@@antenedilbert7191
Well you can't have it all
@@Aguijon1982 lol
I was surprised at that. Most people would in that situation. Especially since he had little to do other than eat. He is a unique case. Part of the reason might be that his smoking suppressed his appetite.
The way this was delivered was so beautiful and well worked I swear you could do big things in 30 minutes you had me so captivated i wanna came back numerous times to show multiple people the breakdown I could just tell them the story and how he manipulated and lied but the way this broke it down was pure art
I completely agree with you 👍🏿
Local press dubbed him "the man who lived in Charles de Gaulle airport".
Wow. Real creativity on their part.
I’ll have you know it took them all night to come up with it!
Sounds better in French.
Isekai Titles in Nutshell
you don't say
It sounds like a good story? It’s unique in it being a man living in an airport alone to be on the news. I really walked onto the short bus when I clicked this video huh
Terrific video, gorgeous music, wonderful narration! I've seen this video so many times, not only for the fascinating story, but something about this video feels calming and nostalgic.
13:24 "Alfred wanted it noted that he was born in Britain. He would also accept Sweden or the United States."
Lol. This dude was playing "Deal or No Deal" with his existence.
It is possible that his mother said a rash sentence to him and he was offended by it . Maybe because of that the Iranian roots did not want to accept anymore
Really wish i wid accept by one
😂😂😂
Hahaha 😂 deal or no deal with his life
after a mental breakdown, i lived in a mental hospital for a whole year.
what struck me the most, was that even though most of the permanent patients there were OBVIOUSLY OBVIOUSLY chronically mentally ailed, most of them still held great fears about ending up having to sleep and beg on the sidewalks.
i remember how emotional and harrowing it seemed for those of us to simply just get transferred to a "more permanent" care facility, because really, how could you ever know if the next place is gonna be as safe as "here"?
This makes perfect sense. I hope you are doing better now. God Bless.
In a sense we all are afraid of change and moving on.
Well as the cities and states in America go broke funding unnecessary things they’ve closed many of the mental institutions and just let the people go to live on the streets. Some go to outpatient facilities to get meds but most don’t. Our government has failed its people horribly
They need to bring back insane asylums
The fear of change,the unknown!
Are you more comfortable making/accepting changes?
I think most people are like Sir Alfred than they realize, living a less than ideal life that they could easily change, if only their psyche let them. We are all limited by what our mind will let us do.
Thank you for a most insightful comment
He wasn't limited though, we limited him. He was trying to move forward in his new identity and finally achieve what he had been working towards, and for some reason we wouldn't let him. Because he didn't have the papers. It's ridiculous even to type it! He was trapped in an airport because of lack of papers. Can you imagine a more nothingburger catalyst to your shunning from the world by the world?
@@tabathaogost4982 thank you for another insightful gem... I hadn't thought of it that way.. like wtf if the famous Sir of terminal 1 wants to be whomever he wants to be.. why didn't people celebrate that and help him in the way he wished to be loved..
So maybe...
At times we dwell in mental spaces that are limited by what our minds perceive we can do..
Some of us create a world inside there that leaves us stuck
Others of us envision a world outside there and pass thru
either way it's a creation of our own..
In way it almost feels like he had an 18 year long Dark Night of the Soul..
We limited him mentally but physically there was a way out
Idk know if I made sense but thanks again to both of you for Ur views which got me thinking
"living a less than ideal life " - it's a bit euphemistic if you look how people are living - but yes, probably most of us do that. When you've lost all your hope of exiting your prison, you begin to befriend with it.
@@daas3715 It would have been so easy to give him access to a land, just like they eventually did after he got sick. Somehow at that point, France was ok with letting him into Paris. But not earlier. They should apologize to him and give him enough money to live like a king for the rest of his life for what they did to him. He was wrongfully imprisoned by bureaucracy and lack of critical thinking.
30:19 "Either you stop drinking and smoking, or you leave the house"
"Aight, the airport it is then"
Priorities
I choked up a little bit when he said "this is loneliness...and not too happy.." at 5:25. The little half chuckle after, you can FEEL how lonely he was. Broke my damn heart.
family and friends visited him At the Airport and he pretended they were strangers. What is happening, in your brain? Just like, in general.
lol being stuck in an airport is like the real world equivalent to surfing to an island and releasing all your pokemon, then saving the game.
Its like a glitch or something. You could literally fly to an airport, burn your ID in the bathroom and be stuck there forever. wtf.
Damn an irl softlock that’s one way to think about it
@@Andrew-mj2up Maybe the forums can help me out? idk how to extract my save but there's gotta be a way... right?
At least in Pokémon you restart the save file as far as I know you can't reset life.
No, the airport can deport you back to your home country once they determine your identity.
They did not deport Sir Alfred because why would you want to get rid of a highly profitable tourist attraction?
@@PeterGriffin11 You can restart life. It's called suicide.
This is a toxic relationship between Alfred, and reality. He knows he can leave at any time, but has immense executive dysfunction. He knows he can leave, but he’s too afraid to accept his reality.
When your whole identity has been taken and you to find out your family is not your family I can only imagine how withdrawn you would become
@@xMelBorNx ...except that it was always his family?
Its just reality that any years for people who live too long in certain strange places, once they get used to it, they called it home, but unlike prison, this man still has freedom, and certainly that freedom create a chaos towards identity
He can't leave. If he left he wouldn't be him anymore. Ego death. It's tantamount to death.
D brain cud have something to do it
I can understand the feeling of security one may find in an ever shrinking daily life. Habits become almost compulsions, a day-to-day rhythm that must be upheld. To have one's whole universe on a bench in a place that never sleeps can perhaps feel very safe?
I go crazy if I'm at the airport for 20 minutes, this guy did 20 years. Oof.
And he very much went crazy it seems.
@@MrFutago87 Guess I was inferring that I'd go crazier.
He did it beacause Hes mind does not function well enough
He was already crazy
@@Triumph2024. you are lucky, your name is Dan. Try being me in an Airport lol! Stuff of nightmares. 😭😅
He saved 18 yrs not having to pay rent.
Or a job
Or a life
BeyondChange
rent? Ferrari is a social housing project?
guess his family owns properties in Iran, why should he rent? in Paris, nobody can pay that rent!
imagine people now days that pay $1500 a month in rent for a ghetto apartment. $324,000 over 18 years of rent is what that would be lol.
Film co does not gives him money for making money off his story.
Being too long staying in the airport have made him use to it as home.
You can't wake up a person, who is pretending to be asleep.
Throw water on them.
@@thehalalreviewer ICY COLD water!!
Well said
😁👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
True
And I thought I was pissed when they discontinued the Arch Deluxe. Imagine how this poor dude felt
I hope he finds peace wherever he is.
Absolutely heartbreaking
but I’m sure
Just one of millions such a tragic story
Amen 🙏🏼
@@og-greenmachine8623 its not heartbreaking he is mentally ill he belong in Psychiatric hospital
@@ramy9556 it IS heartbreaking. His life is just tragic. Before these events, he was NOT mentally ill. Now, he probably is mentally not normal anymore.
@A E
Iran is still very difficult to live in especially if his story of being expelled is true.