STYX

Germany, 2021, 97 minutes, Colour.

Susanne Wolff, Gedeon Oduor Wekesa.

Directed by Wolfgang Fischer.

Initially, the audience is introduced to a German doctor in Cologne, tending the victim of a car accident. But, there are also images of monkeys, apes, intimations of Gibraltar, but also intimations of a special tropical sanctuary on the island of Asuncion, created by Charles Darwin.

The doctor is a sailor and she set out from Gibraltar down the African coast. The first 40 minutes or so of the film show her on board, her skills, chores, swimming…

But, off the coast of Mauritania, she sees a refugee boat, crowded, people diving off, drowning. Which means the rest of the film is a moral dilemma for the doctor: what can she do, what should she do? She makes contact with a passing ship which says it cannot help. She makes contact with the Coast Guard who advises her not to intervene because it is too dangerous. Some critics have noted that this is the opposite of the white rescuer kind of film – this time she is fairly helpless.

There is some drama when she rescues a young African boy from the water, tension, revives him. He is desperate in his plea, also desperate in tossing the bottles of water over board for the passengers, upset and pushing the doctor into the water.

Which means then that the audience is asked to share the anguish of the refugees on the boat, embodied in the young boy, as well as the anguish of the doctor, finally dramatised when the Coast Guard arrives, rescues the drowned bodies, tries to interrogate the doctor who is in a catatonic state.

The Styx is for the dead, having to pay their way across or unable to enter the other realm.

1. A sailing story? The doctor, the accident in Cologne, her going to Gibraltar, setting sail, her enjoying sailing, her destination, Asuncion, with Charles Darwin Park and nature?
2. A refugee story, off the coast of Mauritania, the refugees presented as anonymous from Africa, the boat, difficulties, stranded, the people jumping, drowning, the young boy, the rescue by the doctor, her contact with ships, with the Coast Guard?
3. The title, the River Styx in Greek mythology, the river of the dead, to the other world, and those crossing required to pay, otherwise prevented from going to the other world?
4. The atmosphere of the accident, the work of the doctor?
5. The images of the monkeys, the association with Gibraltar, with Asuncion?
6. The doctor enjoying the sailing, the first 40 minutes of the film, activities?
7. The boat, the refugees, the doctor’s signalling, the warning from the passing ship, it refusing to help, the radio contact unwilling to lose his job? The contact with the coastguards? Her being warned not to be involved, too much danger?
8. The core of the film, the audience identifying with the doctor, standing by, wanting to help, the affluent German doctor able to intervene, unable to intervene? Sense of helplessness, compassion? Her rescuing the boy, tending to him, his pushing her overboard? His reactions, plea, tossing the water bottles into the water?
9. The radio contact, the urgency, her being warned against acting?
10. The consequences, the Coast Guard arriving, saving the number of the dead, the interview with the doctor, her catatonic state, the effect of the experience?