In 2015, Yusra Mardini (Nathalie Issa) and her older sister, Sarah (Manal Issa), are training intensely for the games in Rio the following year, despite the turmoil surrounding them in Damascus. It encroaches upon their daily lives, as they see peers die in the violence, and it inches ever closer to them and their family. They decide to flee to Germany together, convincing their party-loving cousin Nizar (Ahmed Malek) to join them on the arduous journey. Their father\/swimming coach (Ali Suliman) cautions them against taking a boat to Greece, but in the moment, they feel they have no other choice. What comes next seems inevitable, before they even see the patches on the raft that can\u2019t possibly hold everyone who has paid for passage across the Aegean Sea. The sisters use their skills to rescue everyone on board, but survival isn\u2019t enough. Once they reach safety, Olympic dreams still beckon, especially to Yusra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea that the butterfly \u2014 the most difficult swim stroke \u2014 is Yusra\u2019s best event is a telling detail. Her dedication drives her, even in the face of impossible odds. Sarah isn\u2019t as singular in her focus, but sheer stubbornness buoys her in challenge after challenge. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters aren\u2019t developed as deeply as they come in and out of the young women\u2019s lives, but these two are the heart of the film. Offscreen sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa play Yusra and Sarah, and their interactions lend authenticity to the portrayal. The Swimmers<\/em> nicely captures the varied texture of the sisterly dynamic, highlighting the push and pull between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Swimmers<\/em> is not an especially subtle film. Ysra and Sarah\u2019s father explicitly defines the personality differences of his daughters in the film\u2019s first moments, though the rest of the movie shows rather than tells who they are. David Guetta\u2019s \u201cTitanium\u201d is playing at a party in a Damascus scene, with Sia singing, \u201cI’m bulletproof, nothing to lose\/Fire away, fire away,\u201d as bombs fall in the background. Yet its lack of subtlety doesn\u2019t undermine its power. This is an incredibly moving film, with multiple moments reducing me to blubbering. However, despite all the trauma that Yusra and Sarah survive, The Swimmers<\/em> isn\u2019t grim. They find joy and laughter, even amidst terrible hardships that just keep coming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There may be a metaphor in the film\u2019s endurance-testing 144-minute running time, but poor pacing serves as the biggest threat to its impact. It trudges through some scenes, then speeds through others, giving too much detail and then not enough, both in its plot and its characters. While director El Hosaini doesn\u2019t have a strong handle on this element of the Netflix production, she does succeed with the film\u2019s visuals. Colors are vibrant and saturated, and she and cinematographer Christopher Ross (Yesterday<\/em>) provide a sense of scale with aerial shots, not only of the Aegean sea but also of the immensity of the migrant crisis. Beyond the personal story of the Mardini sisters, the moments that underscore the magnitude of the issue are the most compelling in the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While The Swimmers<\/em> never moves as fast or as gracefully as its heroines, it does generally serve their story well. El Hosaini\u2019s drama is pure inspiration, focused on elevating the impressive experiences of two women who have impacted the world for the better.\u00a0\u00a0 “The Swimmers” is streaming Wednesday on Netflix<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/swimmers2-scaled-1024x683.jpg\")
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