Transit 2018

     Georg is attempting to escape Nazi-occupied Paris France and he is posing as the author Weidel who has died.  Georg is a German refugee and he flees to Marseille.  He has transit papers and he will be able to get a travel visa to Mexico.  He gets to his hotel and he learns the man he was supposed to meet has also died.  He falls in love with the author’s wife Marie.  She has been with Richard, he is a doctor also preparing leave the country.  Georg meets a Driss, he is a young boy and his mother is deaf and mute.  There are many refugees in Marseille seeking visas to other countries.   

     This film is a WWII allegory set in modern times.  The setting is now the 21^st century.  Some elements of the plot are left vague, especially the identity of the occupying force.  The plight of displaced people is shown to be universal and not restricted to a set place or time period.  There are a LOT of times where I was at sea myself about what was going on??  I needed a script to follow the characters and the situations??  Possibly, reading one or more of the books first would add clarity?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)      

   

101 min Drama directed by Christian Petzold with Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, Matthais Brandt, Sebastian Hulk, Emilie de Preissac, Antoine Oppenheim, Louison Tresallet, Justus von Dohnanyi, Alex Brendemuhl, Trystan Putter, Ronald Kukulies.

Note:  Imdb 7 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes 94% critic 64% audience, Roger Ebert 4* Brian Talerico, Indie Wire Grade B David Ehrlich, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Amazon 3.2* out of 5* with 20 reviews.  

Special Note:  The title describes this film since the word transit means journey.  You are on your way to somewhere.  The languages are German, French and French Sign Language.  Filmed in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhone, France.  This film is the last chapter of a trilogy written by the director Christian Petzold.  The title of the series is Love in Times of Oppressive Systems.  The other titles are Barbara 2012 and Phoenix 2014.  Petzold collaborated with Harun Farocki and their works are based on novels from the 40’s by Anna Seghers.  Most of the cars, military uniforms and other items couldn’t physically exist unless the Nazis had been defeated.  This makes the film a paradox and also sci-fi.