Styx

A story about a choice between two equally untenable options

a group of people in a boat will die unless you intervene; what do you do? And if the answer sounds obvious, what if the question is contextualised by explaining the people are African refugees trying to reach Europe illegally. And you've been explicitly ordered not to help them. Does this change anything? Should it change anything? These are the tough questions asked by Styx, a remarkably apolitical microcosm of white European indifference to the current refugee crisis. This isn't a white saviour narrative, it's not about a racist who realises that blacks are people too, or about a refugee proving valuable even in the face of hatred. It's a parable about a binary choice distilled down to its very essence. Functioning as both a stripped-back documentary-like depiction of reality, and an allegory for more existential issues, the film will probably frustrate those looking for something more dramatic, or those who dislike narratives which remain ambiguous on moral questions. However, for everyone else, this is an exceptionally well-mounted and brilliantly acted story about what can happen when the visor of indifference no longer shields our eyes from the truth.

For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/Hv9Oj

_Styx_ is that whiny office aide who keeps running up to you complaining about a problem everyone already knows about yet can do nothing to resolve.

"Yes, Robin, we know it's a problem."
"But it's a prooooobleeeeem!"
"It's out of our hands, Robin."
"But it's a biiiiiiiig problem."
"Go somewhere else and make yourself useful, Robin."

I felt a bit betrayed by this maritime drama because the original storyline (a doctor taking her yacht to Ascension Island which includes a forest engineered by Charles Darwin!) was far more interesting than the socio-political drama about refugees that hijacked the plot.

The film is beautifully made (the wide shots of the boat at sea were gorgeous), and Susanne Wolff captains the film admirably as the lead, but the movie they made is little more than a political message in a bottle.