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11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 SEPTEMBER 2019 CULTURE ENVIRONMENT TRANSIT TRANSCEND TRANSCRIBE TRAIN'S LATE TRANSFER TO BIN ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Herons are long-legged birds of marsh and shore. We get six species of herons migrating regularly over Malta (plus some rarer ones), sometimes in nice big flocks. One of these is the night heron, so called because it often flies by night, resting in large trees during the day. To keep the flock to- gether while flying in the dark, the birds often emit short croaky calls (known as contact calls), which is what gave this bird the Maltese name: kwakka! September is a good time to watch out for night herons as they migrate to their wintering grounds in Africa; this past week we had some great sightings of night heron flocks sailing overhead in loose V-formation – one flock had over 180 birds. Like all herons, the night heron is protected but sadly many still get shot dead by trigger-happy morons. Text and Photo: Victor Falzon 677. NIGHT HERON Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 577: Find out more and try our delicious recipe: www.foemalta.org/goodfood it too heavily, as Transit has enough of an original con- ceptual punch and sensitive, high-powered performances that help it stand on its own two feet. Breaking into the (relative) mainstream of European cin- ema with the attention-grab- bing, single-tracking-shot German sleeper hit Victo- ria (dir. Sebastian Schipper; 2015), Franz Rogowski con- firms he's an actor to watch. Maybe it's the hare lip that brings to mind the American actor's turn in Paul Thom- as Anderson's The Master (2013), but Rogowski certain- ly has something of Joaquin Phoenix's ragged, mumbly intensity – a volcanic well of emotion that's dangerously close to bursting at any mo- ment. In other words, a complex performance of masculin- ity that certainly gives Hum- phrey Bogart himself a run for his money. His female counterpart has less screen-time for such ex- ploration, and so it is perhaps in Marie – weaving in and out of frame like a perpetually hassled, perpetually distract- ed beacon of half-intended seduction; hair wet, wardrobe mid-century stylish – that the film's 'vintage' aesthetic is most nakedly on display. But as the story evolves, Beer manages to wring out the pained longing that her char- acter represents. A longing that is, after all, reflected in the band of dis- placed and dislocated souls that makes up the European refugees at the core of this story. Refracting what could have been something of a forced table-turn of the current, real-life geopolitical scenario of migration, Petzold injects mordant humour into the supporting characters' plight. A chattering conductor who will talk his counterparts' ears off about the documents that he needs to process… a but- toned-up, clearly bourgeois woman champing at the bit as she waits in line for the fate- ful boat ride, two dogs in tow – dogs she hates and has been forced to deliver in exchange for legally safe passage. An Absurist attack on the absurdity of arbitrary borders. The verdict Artfully disorienting and running on an in- spired and urgent central premise, Christian Pet- zold's historically ambig- uous allegory succeeds as both an alarming parable about the ever-present threat of fascism and a poignant interpersonal drama that eschews emo- tional excess in favour of a genuine interplay of powerful emotion. Transit will be screening at Spazju Kreattiv Cine- ma at St James Cavalier, Valletta on September 3 (19:30), September 7 (20:30) and September 19 (19:30) ★ ★ ★ ★ TRANSIT ( 12 A )