Styx (2018)

Drama

Director: Wolfgang Fischer
Writers: Ika Künzel, Wolfgang Fischer
Starring: Susanne Wolff, Gedion Oduor Wekesa, Kelvin Mutuku Ndinda, Inga Birkenfeld

ER doctor Rike (Susanne Wolff) embarks on a one-woman solo sailing trip to Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. When Rike comes across a sinking ship of refugees, she is quickly torn out of her contented and idealized world and must make a momentous decision.

Aptly named after the mythological river that separates the living from the dead, Styx is an astute modern-day parable of Western indifference in the face of marginalized suffering. Carrying practically the entire film, Wolff is never less than remarkable in a riveting role as a woman pushed to her physical, psychological, and moral limits, in this work of unrelenting intensity and technical brilliance.

Plot summary from IMDb: "Styx" depicts the transformation of a strong woman torn from her contented world during a sailing trip. When she becomes the only person to come to the aid of a group of refugees shipwrecked on the high seas, she is shown the limits of her importance and of the empathy of her cultural milieu. She is left slipping impotently from one nightmare to the next, and by the end she is forced to recognize that there is no way to counter the cruelties of real life. Only chance can save her.

Awards: 30 wins & 19 nominations.
Runtime: 94 min
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