Complete credited cast: | |||
Susanne Wolff | ... | Rike | |
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Gedion Oduor Wekesa | ... | Kingsley |
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Kelvin Mutuku Ndinda | ... | Kelvin |
Inga Birkenfeld | ... | Assistant Doctor Marie | |
Alexander Beyer | ... | Paul | |
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Dominik Böth | ... | Firefighter Captain |
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Anika Menger | ... | Paramedic #1 |
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Mario Mangion | ... | Paramedic #2 |
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Chris Spiteri | ... | Combat Medic (voice) |
Charlie Galea | ... | Radio Operator Pulpca (voice) | |
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Simon Sansone | ... | Radio Operator Coastguard Male (voice) |
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Felicity Babao | ... | Radio Operator Coastguard Female (voice) |
"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. Written by Wolfgang Fischer
Susanne Wolff gives a fine performance here as Rake, an emergency room doctor who sets off alone onto the sea, on her sailing yacht, to head towards the isolated Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic. Ascension contains a natural jungle planned and fostered by Charles Darwin. I thought the cinematography here was truly superb from the startling opening scenes and throughout the film.
When Rake comes across a trawler in emergency distress and containing numerous African migrants, she will be faced with the dilemma of her humanitarian desire to help vs. the policies and procedures of governments and their politics. It's a worldwide crisis with no easy answers, and viewers will most likely come down on both sides of the equation.
Overall, I thought the movie maintained a good air of suspense throughout but I was definitely not thrilled with the most ambiguous ending. To note, English subtitles were only available when German was spoken, which was rarely, but I was able to obtain them from my closed caption option on my remote.