181. Styx; movie review

STYX
Cert 12A
95 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat

A film fan with whom I chat regularly on Twitter wanted to know my view on Styx because she enjoyed it and was affected by it.
I sort of know what she means because of its intense moral conundrum but I felt that its power is diluted by the way the camera lingers too long over silent scenes.
Susanne Wolff virtually carries the movie on her own, being in almost every shot and sharing the acting honours only for a short time with Gedion Oduor Wekesa.
Apart from him, the only voices are in the opening scenes and on the radio she uses from her ocean-crossing yacht.
Wolff's character is a doctor who searches for a respite from the intensity of her day-to-day by sailing to a remote island to see rare plants, flowers and wildlife.
Both Mrs W and I remarked that her solitude wouldn't have been for us but she even goes for swims away from her boat and seems most at home in her surroundings.

Her trip goes on (and on) before she spots a vessel with what appears to be starving refugees leaping into the sea or screaming for help.
The film's conundrum lies around what happens next.
Essentially, the doctor is left to decide whether to try to save lives and risk jeopardising her own.
But there is also the deeper question of how we all react to those who imperil themselves in their desperation to seek a new life.
I have always said that I am lucky to have been born in a country where we are allowed to be masters of our own destiny.
Others are not so lucky - having been brought up in war zones or finding themselves at odds with brutal regimes.
It stuns me that people seem to be aggressively unwelcoming of such folk before they even know what they could bring to our society.
Worse still, coastguards across the Mediterranean and beyond are even letting them die as they try to make their way across treacherous seas.
How they and the doctor react makes for intriguing viewing - I just wish director Wolfgang Fischer hadn't taken so long to reach this nub of his film.

Reasons to watch: Fascinating moral conundrum
Reasons to avoid: Takes far too long to get going

Laughs: None
Jumps: One
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Did you know? An estimated 2,275 refugees died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, despite a major drop in the number of arrivals reaching European shores.

The final word: Wolfgang Fischer: "We wanted there to be no escape from this dilemma. It raises the question of what to do, what is right, what is wrong in this situation, and this dilemma needs to keep up this tension, which was our aim."

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