Casa blanca’d

Transit (d. Christian Petzold)

Some thoughts on Transit. It offers an alternative universe where fascists are closing in on dissidents and minorities in what looks to be contemporary France. The mood harks back to WWII movies, including its unchecked orientalism. Why does Petzold set it in sun-drenched Marseilles which looks more Mediterranean than Europe? Because it evokes the idea of borders, and we have to keep this in mind that it is a deliberate artistic choice. Why not set the border in the metropole itself? In Western Europe? What bothers me about this film is that non-white figures are still rendered in the same fashion as other movies: in need of help and pity—instead of characters that are full of motivation and initiative. The Arab woman is doubly silenced as she is made mute. The white male protagonist would like to act as a savior to woman and her child—the same kind of chivalry that we saw in Petzold’s Jerichow (2008). Even then, the non-European immigrant fails in so many levels on European soil. Is it inconceivable for Petzold to see or represent immigrants who are actually thriving? Why the resistance? The movie is about how present day fascism is a continuation/remixing/reviving of past versions and the same archetypal idiotic heroism of quixotic heroes, which also means, according to the movie, the incapacities and beta-ness of non-white people. Dear Christian, to fight back, we need all people on board, like literally, but you want some of us to be left behind.

#128 #2019