Styx

The principal actress of this movie has obviously done a course in "how to act in arthouse movies": show a face of stone for two hours straight. There is nothing to laugh about in this horrible world full of sexists and bad people. There is not much happening in this movie. Long tedious shots of her loading the boat (man, why show this for 10 minutes? she loads groceries, okay we get it !) and getting ready for sailing. Then the sailing. The the storm. Then the refugee boat. Of course, a refugee boat. What else. If you wanna gain entry to some prestiguous filme festivals and win prizes nowadays, you need a refugee boat. And a strong woman of course, who never smiles. The follows the moral drama, should I take refugues on board or not? Rescue some lives or not? We all now the answer.

This is also as boring as it is calculated. Directors who jump on the themes of the present day and pack it into a moral tale.

Appropriated indignation, I would call it. Works every time. The way to go for medium talented directors. Even if you make a mediocre film , the subject (in this case: refugee crisis!) is gonna carry you to the high art house festivals and secure some prizes. Milk it, baby !

I always say: why not make a documentary of the real thing? Of what is actually happening in the middle sea? Better than this exploitation crap. This film won't change one persons mind or opinion about refugees. A documentary could.

Nobody, absolutely nobody wanted to see this movie in german theaters. I think it sold something like 6.000 tickets. Still, it it was nominated for a striking 6 Lolas, the german Academy Awards, half a year after it's release. That says it all.

I give 4 stars for good camerawork and great sound.

This film shows the distance between 2 worlds separated by the river Styx, the hate river. The "civilised" world where you are rescued no matter the costs (the navy will come for only one person) and the world where the people are considered that does not worth to be saved, where the people, even that they are like you and me, are treated with disrespect and where lives are not important. None will come to save hundreds.

Overall Styx isn't a bad movie. It might be a bit slow but that's exactly what I would imagine if I was on a solitary trip sailing the oceans. The calmness, the solitude, the awareness of everything that surrounds you, it seems all normal to me that this story is told in a slow pace. As for the moral of the story it's something typical for our times, we look at refugees as they are a plague and not worth of our time, and this while they are human beings like you and me. It's a depressing story and it should be. We're living in a me me me-world and Styx reflects that totally. Not many actors in this movie but Susanne Wolff did a good job playing her character. Don't expect action scenes or whatever, Styx is more about questioning ourselves.

A luxury car crashes in Cologne. Rike, a middle-aged doctor, takes care of the injured with a calmness, sophistication and detachment that belies the chaotic scene. She displays the same characteristics in beginning a solitary boat trip from Gibraltar to distant Ascension Island. Alone on the ocean swells with the sound of the wind and waves, Rike dreams of reaching the wild untouched nature that Darwin spoke of in "the Creation of Paradise." Passing through a fierce storm for which she is well prepared, this clever and independent woman encounters something else that she is not ready for. This real-world problem will shake Rike to her core. She straddles the border to the underworld on the River Styx.

Rike deals with issues that are currently great troubles in the world; immigration and the divide between rich and poor, but also something inside herself and her oath as a doctor. There is little dialogue to Styx. Instead there is sumptuous photography including panoramic shots above the ocean, and the ambient sounds of wind and waves. The film is well made and acted. The lack of dialogue is the strength of the film, but also its weakness.

I liked the first half of the film better than the last half. I think this is because I was looking forward to learning about the wild nature of Ascension Island and the "paradise" that Darwin found. But Rike never gets there. Indeed, the world will never get to this paradise if we don't learn to help each other, heal the environment that sustains us, and that we are all as Black Elk maintained "hoops within other hoops."

In 3 words: I liked it!

Pros: 1) it's wonderfully played. Susanne Wolff is touching and moving, like Gedion Oduor Wekesa. 2) Wolfgang Fischer uses a humble way for addressing the notions of altruism and benevolence. He is neither pedantic nor didactic nor preachy. 3) it is filmed without any special effect and with a breathtaking mastery of the frame; nowadays, it is unusual and then pleasant. 4) The French movie title, i.e. Styx, sounds smart and implies, at least for me, a Google search to explain and connect it with the whole movie.

Cons (a tiny one): although the introduction is quick, it's useless and confusing. We may imagine that Rike's husband died in that car accident and Rike needs then a phase of introspection in order to mourn. Pure deduction... And what about these monkeys? A metaphor?