The Swimmers

PG-13

Released Nov 11, 2022

2 hr. 14 min.

Drama

Biography

Sports

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List

83%

63 Reviews

Tomatometer

86%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Based on a true story, THE SWIMMERS follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Two young sisters embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.

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Netflix

Watch The Swimmers with a subscription on Netflix.

Critics Consensus

The Swimmers can be heavy-handed and it's arguably too long, but it handles a worthy topic with generally uplifting results.

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Rosana B

Estou assistindo alternadamente dois filmes baseados em fatos reais sobre três nadadores excepcionais e especiais, "As Nadadoras" e "Nayd" e completamente encantada e apaixonada por ambos, impossível escolher melhor... Todas elas desafiaram a morte e seus próprios limites, e as irmãs Martini São heroínas porque fizeram isso em prol de outras vidas crianças homens e mulheres, puro altruísmo... Como não amá-las, respeitá-las e exaltá-las… Trilha sonora "Firework". Dolorido... Yusra atualmente estuda cinema na University of Southern California, continuou nadando e foi para Toqui 2020, além de ser Embaixadora da boa vontade da ACNUR. Enquanto Sarah, abandonou a carreira esportiva logo que escapou da Síria, em 2018 foi presa por 100 dias na Grécia e segue ativa na defesa dos refugiados vivendo na Europa.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/14/24

Full Review

Miguel C

I really appreciated how the movie went from light hearted to heavy handed and vice versa. It kept me on my toes not getting overwhelmed with one style or aspect. The story inspires anyone showing not even war can stop one's dream, in this case a young girls dream to compete in the Olympics.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/03/24

Full Review

Carlos C

I really enjoyed this movie. It hit all the right notes to keep me captivated this this story. The director does a great job of showcasing this journey. Felt inspired afterwards.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/20/23

Full Review

LVH

Fantastic, heartbreaking, and inspirational story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/02/23

Full Review

Senorjoel

Beautiful film, uplifting and so sympathetic to the millions of refugees in the world. The 2 main characters are well developed, including and especially their relationship with each other and to their family. Most of the really horrible stuff these people are fleeing from is only touched on, with more focus on the positive - but still, you get a clear sense of what people are up against when forced to abandon their homes and generally not welcomed in the rest of the world.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/13/23

Full Review

Olga G

The Netflix teaser showed a scene that doesn't happen until two thirds of the way into the movie. That didn't make those two thirds any less harrowing. The characters half a world away both geographically and culturally are so human and relatable, I felt genuine dread, horror, and heartache for them. The titular Swimmers are real life Syrian sisters - 17 year old Yusra (Nathalie Issa), a driven and ambitious Olympic hopeful, and Sarah (Manal Issa), who is few years older and more interested in partying. They have a younger sister. And a pet bird. When the war starts, they try to carry on. There is a symbolic scene in which the sisters are dancing at a rooftop club. To Titanium. Rockets are falling in the distance. The loud music drowns out the sound of explosions, literally and figuratively. But the war catches up to them. The swimming complex gets hit. People they know are dying. Or going to Europe. The parents make an agonizing decision to let the girls go. With two conditions - they get their male cousin to go with them and they take a land route. The cousin comes, but the land route is quickly dismissed as impractical. There are a lot of artsy shots in the film. But the most powerful ones are simple. Lifejackets sold everywhere at the place in Istanbul "where the Syrians meet". People quickly counting their borrowed money and handing it to the smugglers, who disappear with no guarantee that they will come back. The promised "boat" carried down to the shore - small and folded. The patches on it. And the sun sinking into the sea as the motor is dead, there's water in the boat and no land in sight. The girls' journey could have easily looked like reenactment of various news stories from that time. But somehow the filmmakers managed to make it so much more. I felt like I was there, with those people, every step of the way. Unfortunately, that is lost in the last part of the film, after the scene that was in the teaser, and the movie becomes flat and kind of forced. I don't want to say that it's an important film, but it is. And I am glad it's most important part is as well made as it is.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/02/23

Full Review

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Sally El Hosaini

Director

Nathalie Issa

Yusra Mardini

Manal Issa

Sarah Mardini

Matthias Schweighöfer

Actor

Ahmed Malek

Actor

James Krishna Floyd

Actor

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The Swimmers: Teaser Trailer

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Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Inspiring, somewhat episodic, and definitely a crowd-pleaser.

Nov 30, 2022

Full Review

David Jenkins

Little White Lies

Yusra Mardini’s story is one worth telling through film – and this does a solid job of that.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 25, 2022

Full Review

Kimber Myers

Crooked Marquee

Directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil), The Swimmers combines two of cinema’s most inspirational genres — the sports movie and the survival drama — into a single moving film.

Rated: B

Nov 24, 2022

Full Review

Yasmine El Rashidi

The New York Review of Books

The effect is emotionally gripping (the film does provoke tears), but the inner lives and anguish, the ongoing sorrow at losing a homeland, are somehow overlooked.

May 12, 2023

Full Review

Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

The Swimmers indelibly depicts the horrors of the refugee crisis. ... The film makes no attempt, however, to explore why millions of Syrians, for example, have been forced to flee their homeland or to name those responsible.

Mar 24, 2023

Full Review

Grace Han

Asian Movie Pulse

It is just a shame that the human should be so easily translated into Euro-American codes of filmic legibility. “The Swimmers” ends up – strangely enough – as a feel-good refugee movie.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 21, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Based on a true story, THE SWIMMERS follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Two young sisters embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.

Director: Sally El Hosaini
Executive Producer: Stephen Daldry, Katherine Pomfret, Tilly Coulson
Screenwriter: Jack Thorne, Sally El Hosaini
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: AZ Celtic Films, Working Title Films
Rating: PG-13 (Thematic Material|Language|Some Violence|Sexual Assault)
Genre: Drama, Biography, Sports
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 11, 2022, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 23, 2022
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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