Yusra (Nathalie Issa) and Sara Mardini (Manal Issa) dwell within the more and more harmful metropolis of Damascus within the mid-2010s. They’re aggressive swimmers, educated by their father (Ali Suliman), and hoping to compete within the Olympics sometime. Yusra is the extra athletically formidable and usually extra reserved of the sisters. Whereas Sara is out partying, Yusra is fearful in regards to the bombs falling on the horizon. They determine to flee Syria, planning to go to Germany, the place they will use a household course of to carry their youthful sister and oldsters over too. Touring with their cousin (Ahmed Malek), they board a ship to Greece, and some of the harrowing scenes in years unfolds. As an overcrowded boat held collectively by masking tape and prayers begins to sink, the motor dies, and the waves choose up. It’s laborious to not really feel the emotional pull of what’s unfolding and take into consideration what number of refugees don’t survive such perilous journeys.
In fact, Yusra and Sara do survive. There’s no film in any other case, which is one thing tragic to consider—the Yusras and Saras who didn’t make it throughout the Mediterranean. After a couple of extra harmful stops on the trail to freedom, “The Swimmers” pivots once more—it actually might be used to show the three-act construction what with its “Damascus” chapter, “Journey” chapter, and “Germany” chapter. The ultimate one is the sports activities film as they meet a swim coach (Matthias Schweighofer of “Military of the Useless”) and notice that their Olympic desires will not be over.
The Issa sisters are such a present to El Hosaini and this film as a complete. Nathalie has the proper mix of vulnerability and braveness whereas Manal has a sly attraction that matches Sara completely. I stored wishing that “The Swimmers” would problem them extra as an alternative of giving them superficial dialogue as a result of that’s how assured I’m that they might have delivered. It appears like somebody at Netflix fearful a lot that audiences wouldn’t be drawn to a refugee story with few recognizable stars, and they also leaned tougher than they needed to on the melodrama, the inspirational film clichés, and that overly polished Netflix sheen that makes all of this movie’s assorted settings one way or the other look principally the identical. The story of Yusra and Sara Mardini is so inherently highly effective and the ladies who play them so proficient that “The Swimmers” by no means wanted any of these cinematic lifejackets to remain afloat.