Cinema
Transit
טרנזיט
Daniel Wachsmann · 1980
Synopsis
Erich Nussbaum, a German Jew driven out of the Berlin museum where he worked, passed through Italy and Shanghai before reaching Israel. In Tel Aviv, after the Six-Day War, he runs an antiques shop that is failing; divorced from Yael, who is much younger than he is, he sees his son Michael living with her. He feels he is only passing through and plans to return to Berlin, where his former museum offers him a post. The last tenant of a building that the owner's son wants to demolish, he resists the pressure, then ends up in a cheap hotel by the sea, among misfits.
Context
It is Wachsmann's first feature film, written with Danny Horowitz, and the first film supported by the Israeli film fund. The story is partly told by the son. Gedalia Besser plays Erich, Liora Rivlin Yael, Gideon Singer his friend Willy, a refugee like him; Erich's two sisters speak only German, and Mohammad Bakri has a small part. The film competed at the thirtieth Berlin festival, then was shown in Toronto, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney in 1980.
Who it is for
Under an hour and a half, in Hebrew, with some German. It is better to know that immigrants were expected to blend into the country and forget where they came from.
Prizes and reception
In competition at the Berlin festival in 1980, then shown at several festivals in North America, Africa and Oceania.