Mark Reviews Movies: STYX

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 26, 2019

In the minds of some, certain lives are more worthy of living than others. The decision isn't exactly a conscious one, but the end result, coded in various policies and laws, asserts that belief. Take the early sequence that begins Styx, as a full-on rescue efforts of various emergency-service personnel save a man trapped in his car after a crash. Then, compare it to the silence and emptiness of the open ocean, where a sinking boat filled with refugees goes unattended, while the occupants succumb to the elements onboard or drown trying to swim anywhere else.

The shared component of these life-or-death scenarios is Rieke (Susanne Wolff), a German doctor who is called to the scene of the accident and, later, discovers the boat while alone on her sailing yacht. Co-writer/director Wolfgang Fischer spends the time in between these events establishing isolation and procedures to the point that we're lulled into believing that Rieke will be the one in trouble, especially when a passing freighter mentions that a rough storm is in the yacht's path.

Instead, the film becomes a harrowing, despairing experience, in which the protagonist and we are left helpless, watching as a tale of impossible survival happens in the near distance. After hearing the screams and shouts of the disabled boat, carrying who-knows-how-many refugees from Africa, Rieke sends out a distress call on her radio. The Coast Guard responds, promises action, and warns Rieke not to do anything, lest the situation become more "chaotic." Rieke takes a young boy named Kingsley (Gedion Oduor Wekesa), who has swum toward her boat, aboard, and then, she follows the Coast Guard's orders to keep her distance.

Hours upon hours pass. More radio calls are made. There is no sign of a rescue.

It's almost a given that this story will end in tragedy, but Fischer and Ika Künzel's screenplay keeps some hope alive through Rieke, whose stubbornness to stay near the boat and to keep calling for aid seems like it might be the thing that changes what must be a depressingly common occurrence. Working in political and bureaucratic apathy, though, there are systems in place with far more stubborn power than the basic decency of one individual. Styx shows that cruel apathy through the absence of help, and ultimately, by showing why and when help would arrive, it reveals the infuriating foundation of those policies.

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