Transit. 2018. Directed by Christian Petzold

Transit. 2018. USA. Directed by Christian Petzold. Screenplay by Petzold, based on the book by Anna Seghers. With Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese. DCP. In German, French; English subtitles. 102 min. At the height of a European “migrant crisis,” Christian Petzold filmed an adaptation of Anna Seghers’s 1944 novel Transit, about a refugee who tries to escape a fascist police state by impersonating a dead writer. In a chilling, prescient move, Petzold masterfully blends past and present by filling the streets of Marseille with police, armed state forces, and political refugees, dressed in 21st-century attire, desperately trying to escape authoritarian repression.