28.03 – 29.03

This scene takes place in the line for visas and transits. Even though Georg repaired Driss’ old radio in the previous scene, the lobby has a TV screen with changing photos of ships from different eras of time cementing that not only are we in transit geographically, but also in space and time. Narrated similarly to Casablanca, another in-transit classic, we learn that this lobby is the place where people tell their stories. People tell stories of their near-death experiences to feel more alive. When Max leaves the hungry conductor to talk to the familiar dog-lady, she tells the story of the self-seeking Americans whose dogs she is caring for. “I hate them and their mutts,” she says to Georg. I believe making the dogs American was a conscious decision that references America’s lack of assistance during World War II. Maybe “mutts” refers to the mixing and assimilating cultures in America. The fact that these people left their dogs with their architect solidifies their tactless nature that is representative of the actual American government. The same government that’s refugee and immigration structures made it virtually impossible for Anne Franks’s family to come here. In January I learned that the number of refugees that the American Government accepts dropped from 110,000 for the fiscal year of 2017 to 30,000 for 2019 despite the fact that we are in a displacement crisis that has been expedited by US imperialism. 

Zaveri, Mihir. “Anne Frank’s Family Was Thwarted by U.S. Immigration Rules, Research Shows.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 July 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/us/anne-frank-family-escape-usa.html.

Blizzard, Jeanne Batalova Brittany, and Jeanne Batalova. “Refugees and Asylees in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org, Migration Policy Institute, 2 July 2019, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states.