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The Swimmers

The Swimmers

Movie · 2022 · 7 people

Two sisters make a perilous journey out of war-torn Syria in The Swimmers, and one of them goes on to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Sally El Hosaini directed this 2022 biographical sports drama and wrote the screenplay with Jack Thorne. Reviews were positive, and it became a global hit on Netflix, reaching number one in 15 countries and the top ten in 85. It was nominated for Outstanding British Film at the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards.

The true story belongs to the sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini, and the script draws on Yusra Mardini's illustrated 2018 memoir Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian. The two sisters are played by the Lebanese real-life siblings Nathalie Issa and Manal Issa. The cast also includes Ahmed Malek, Matthias Schweighöfer, Ali Suliman, Kinda Alloush, James Krishna Floyd and Elmi Rashid Elmi.

Production began in April 2021, with filming in the United Kingdom and then Belgium and Turkey. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2022, opened in select cinemas on 11 November and played the Marrakech festival gala on 18 November. Netflix released it on 23 November 2022.

DirectorSally El Hosaini

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Cast

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Manal Issa Manal Issa Actor · born 1992 Sarah Mardini Ali Süleyman Ali Süleyman Actor · 49 years old Ezzat Mardini Yusra Mardini Ahmed Malek Matthias Schweighöfer James Floyd Kinda Alloush

Also in the cast: Elmi Rashid Elmi

Through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

A film that tells young people a strong story about determination and sisterhood. The fact that it comes from a real life, with a road that leads all the way to the Olympics, makes it inspiring for older kids. But be aware: the subject is fleeing a war on a dangerous journey, and some parts may be frightening and upsetting for little ones. Better to watch it with children over twelve, with an adult beside them.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film tells of fleeing the war in Syria not through statistics but through the story of two sisters, which takes the refugee question out of the headlines and brings it down to human scale. Part of it being shot in Turkey is a reminder that, for Turkish viewers, this journey does not unfold somewhere far away. It is also valuable that it frames being a refugee not only as victimhood but as resilience made visible through sport. One reservation: putting an exceptional success like the Olympics at the centre risks overshadowing the stories of countless ordinary people who walked the same road. Even so, resting on Yusra Mardini's own memoir gives the film a particular weight.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Sally El Hosaini and Jack Thorne set a true life story on the frame of the classic sports biopic: obstacle, struggle, the big race. That frame opens the film to a wide audience, as its top-ten run in 85 countries on Netflix clearly shows. But the same structure leaves little room for surprise, and its dramatic turning points feel familiar from the genre's playbook. The smartest decision is casting Nathalie and Manal Issa, sisters in real life, as the sisters; the blood tie that is so hard to build on screen is there from the first frame. The BAFTA nomination makes sense, but to my mind the film takes the safe road that guarantees emotional impact, and so ends up effective rather than daring.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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