‘Transit’ review — Hypothetical dystopia
The director showed us the threat of Nazism — something that is considered to be obvious and dangerous. But he has imposed it on modern society.
The film Transit directed by Christian Petzold competed in the Main Competition Section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. It is not the first time the festival has welcomed the director; more than once has he been the Berlinale nominee. In 2012, he won the Silver Bear for Best Director for the drama film Barbara.
Nazism and its consequences for Germany and the world is a deep German wound that has left an unmistakable imprint on Christian Petzold’s work. In Phoenix, a horrific story of the Holocaust victim is shown, whereas the events in Barbara are set in Germany in the times of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Transit can be viewed as a kind of ‘prequel’ showing how it all might have begun.
What all of the above-mentioned films have in common is that the plots are constructed around lost people. However, Phoenix and Barbara are perceived by the viewers as something that has already happened, as the thing of the past (still not forgotten, though). On the other hand, in Transit everything seems to be too realistic and approachable.
In the opening scenes of the film, the viewer sees the streets of the modern city. The streets are patrolled by the representatives of special forces who are wearing black uniforms. They protect themselves from unarmed people with the help of automatic guns and bulletproof vests, check passers’-by documents and even arrest some of them. For some reason, they are called the Nazis.
At first, you get the impression that you are watching one more dystopia which shows the Hitler supporters’ deeds on the territory of Europe in the 21st century. However, it is next to impossible to determine the time when the events of the film Transit take place. Some people may find it confusing. Anyway, there are no doubts that the director successfully depicted the world of the Second World War ‘preserving’ it in the entourage of modern society.
We see Paris and Marseille which look so familiar; yet, people who roam the streets are wearing the clothes of the 1950s. Cities carry on with their lives, but some of the residents are simply stuck in the interiors of the 1940s.
All these people are old refugees in the new world.
The world created in Transit is not particularly different from the one the characters of the film used to live in or the world we live in now. We see people dining in a quiet cafeteria, people waiting in the line for a visa… some of them are fleeing the country to escape from terror and death.
In fact, there is one thing that makes the film similar to Caruso’s or Orwell’s novels — an incomprehensible sense of irreversibility.
The protagonist of the film, simply Georg, is a man with no surname and no past. Trying to free himself from the trap he was caught in by the hostile city, he inadvertently adopts the name of another person. Georg, a young German man, finds the papers and the latest manuscript of the writer who the Mexican Embassy offers asylum to. He jumps at such a great (yet not really clear-cut) chance to escape.
We cannot either approve nor condemn Georg’s deeds as well as the actions taken by the other characters of the film. Georg steals someone else’s name. Marie, a late writer’s wife, is trying to find her husband only for the sake of saving herself. People around do not notice other people who need help.
The characters of the film often feel distressed. They are embarrassed about their actions as well as their inaction; they are ashamed of their choice and the things they cannot change.
Nevertheless, the director does not judge the decisions made by the heroes. He simply helps the viewers identify themselves with the characters and think of what they would do under the given circumstances.
Also, Transit features a narrator who helps us understand Georg’s story better. Sometimes his thoughts are too obvious. The director deliberately defuses dramatic tension the viewer expects to see. Still, it does the trick — due impersonality of the narrator’s monologues, the plot of the film seems to be more plausible. When the emotions experienced by the protagonist are revealed, the viewers start to believe in what they see even more sincerely.
All throughout the film, we feel considerable tension generated by people who clash with each other and try to come to terms with themselves. At the same time, we can observe a strange reaction to the tension. People are too calm about things that should drive them crazy. Even their own death or deaths of the others, as well as defeats and disappointments, are perceived unemotionally.
While watching the film, one may several times get the feeling that the movie is about to end. You guess that it is the ultimate happy end or expected dramatic ending. On the screen, you see hasty decisions, self-sacrifice, love, but the end of the film really comes very slowly and softly.
Transit is filled with extraordinarily plausible details and might even look prophetic. It is all about confrontations which are intertwined in the past and the present, horrendous wars, cruelty, fear and people who suffer from it, i.e. refugees.
Will the heroes be able to escape the vicious circle? When will their transit be completed? What will be the next transfer point? Is there a destination at all?
Premiere — Feb ’18 (68th Berlin Film Festival)
Runtime — 101 min
IMDb — 7
