If One of Those Dots Stopped Moving Forever

Carol Reed’s 1949 film The Third Man is built around questions of borders; where they appear, how they are enforced, how they are transgressed and by whom. What I find most optimistic is that for all the gerrymandering and breaking of rules that the various characters engage in to navigate the lethal state and social authorities, it is the film’s animals that demonstrate the hope of escape. Cats, dogs, and rats are always at the edge of the narrative, pointing to lines of flight and demonstrating that no force can maintain a wall that is completely impermeable.