Migrants braving a perilous journey to find new lives in Europe carry with them myriad stories, many of which have made and will make for amazing cinema. "The Swimmers" offers not only a hammering glimpse of that journey but adds in a sports drama as well.
Director Sally El Hosaini's newest movie premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. It's an essential story based on the real lives of two Syrian sisters who trekked all the way to Germany to follow their dreams.
Yusra and Sara Mardini made headlines a few years back for helping to pull a boat of their fellow migrants across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece. They were called "hero swimmers," but that wasn't the end of their stories.
"The Swimmers" portrays the two sisters who find themselves at odds one moment and holding each other tight the next, just like any other siblings out there in the world. The difference is one of these sisters became an Olympian and the other went on to help her fellow migrants cross the sea to Greece before being arrested in a case denounced by Human Rights Watch.
In "The Swimmers," Yusra is played by Nathalie Issa, and Sara is portrayed by Manal Issa. They're competitive swimmers in Syria coached by their father, Ezzat Mardini (Ali Suliman), who dreams of both becoming Olympians and swimming for their nation. The story begins on Yusra's birthday in 2011 at the start of the Syrian Civil War before moving on to 2015 when the girls are a little older.
The film establishes Yusra is more dedicated to swimming and seems to be a bit of an introvert, while Sara isn't quite as dedicated to the sport and tries to find her own path in life. She enjoys partying with friends and doesn't want to continue the swimming dream solely to make their father happy.
Sara wants to take Yusra and make their way to Germany, but their father says it's too dangerous and forbids it. Things change when Yusra's swim meet is bombed, and two people die. After that, the girls set off with their cousin Nizar (Ahmed Malek) to reach Greece. Ezzat gives them 10,000 Euros for the journey.
They fly to Turkey on a tourist visa and agree to pay a smuggler to take them to the Greek island of Lesbos with a group of other migrants. The smuggler puts them in an inflatable raft and tells them it'll just take a couple of hours. Then he sends them off on their own.
This is when panic sets in, and the raft sinks a bit. The motor stops. And the seas get choppy with no land in sight. Seeing the raft carrying too much weight, Sara and Yusra jump into the water, tied to the raft by ropes, and start swimming, gradually pulling it forward to their destination. Thanks to the girls' heroic efforts, all the migrants arrive safely, only to be greeted by hostility from the locals.
"The Swimmers" is beautifully shot, but it's once they're in the middle of the Aegean Sea that Cinematographer Christopher Ross' work shines. The way Ross captures their desperation and frames the struggle of fighting the waves in a malfunctioning raft truly locks in a sense of dread for all the migrants.
The Mardini sisters' remaining journey to Germany is heartbreaking with Yusra being sexually assaulted, smugglers scamming them, and so much more. But eventually, Yusra, Sara, and Nizar arrive in Berlin and begin their asylum petitions.
While they stay in cramped quarters in a giant hangar with hundreds of other refugees, Yusra finds a swimming club coach named Sven (Matthias Schweighofer), whom she impresses with her swimming times. So much changes for the sisters while they wait for their asylum process to work out. Yusra and Sara learn their family cannot join them through the program they were initially aiming for. And Sara leaves swimming behind for good.
The sisters fight, they despair, and they try to deal with the trauma after their horrific journey to Berlin, all while wading through endless paperwork and interviews. Nathalie and Manal have great sibling chemistry and portray the Mardini sisters wonderfully. Their fights, their making up, their love for each other, it all feels real.
Sven eventually tells Yusra a refugee Olympic team is being established to compete in Rio, and she busts her rump training to better her times. Eventually, Yusra does compete in Rio. And Sara decides she'll return to Lesbos to help other migrants. The two go through such a long journey and character transitions across the more-than two-hour running time.
And, speaking of running time, that's the primary weakness of "The Swimmers." At 2 hours and 14 minutes, it's a little bloated. The story offers some devastating lows and soaring highs. But these moments are dulled just a little by an overly long narrative that could have used one final trim. "The Swimmers" didn't need to break the two-hour mark.