The opening night Gala presentation at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival was a little movie called The Swimmers -which was a shock to me because usually that esteem is granted to a higher profile movie: an awards bait flick or star-driven feature due out wide within a month or two of the festival. But The Swimmers, which granted is produced by Netflix, is an inspirational true story drama, a British production about a pair of Syrian sisters and their journey as refugees and as swimmers -trained by their Olympian father. It’s the kind of movie that might fit in with those typical Hollywood motivational dramas, except it’s got no movie stars, features non-white leads, and is told at least partly in Arabic.
But it’s also one of those stories that you can see why someone wanted to turn it into a movie -in this case director and co-screenwriter Sally El Hosaini. There’s a lot of material there, both interesting and harrowing -as is the case for many a refugee story, but this one just happened to centre on ones who later gained fame. That means it doesn’t have quite the earnestness to it as something like Flee, nor the rawness or authenticity -indeed certain sequences can’t help but play like the invention of mediocre screenwriting (El Hosaini’s partner on this script, Jack Thorne, recently wrote Enola Holmes and the Secret Garden movie nobody saw). In the late part of the film especially there’s a disingenuousness to quite a few scenes that actually feels at odds with moments of intense realism earlier on.
And yet I was mostly won over by The Swimmers, by some of its’ directing and especially the acting of its’ stars. Real-life sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa play the subjects Yusra and Sara Mardini, initially residents of Damascus who find themselves at the centre of the Syrian War when shelling breaks out in 2015. The sisters with their cousin Nizar (Ahmed Malek) set out with the goal of reaching Germany and some distant relations there, experiencing several all-too-typical refugee hardships along the way -the most dramatic of which involves them guiding a small inflatable dinghy with way too many people aboard partway through the Aegean Sea to Lesbos.
This is the real crux of their story, what first brought them fame when they finally did reach Germany -especially in the context of their training to be Olympic athletes, as Nathalie ultimately succeeded in becoming. And as such it is one of the higher points of the film, the tension built with a harrowing immediacy that El Hosaini sets with careful precision. The batty motor, the rocking waves tossing more and more water into the boat, and the camera motion emphasizing just how much of the boat is completely submerged long before the motor even gives out. It’s quite good, I could see her doing horror very effectively. It is horror here of course, the wailing baby, the panic in everyones’ voices, the sheer emptiness of the horizon -truly a nightmare situation, it’s great. And it emphasizes well the audacity of first Sara and then Yusra to do what they did to ensure the survival of everyone on board.
I was stunned though by how early this came in the movie. But of course it has to follow on that through to Yusra’s athletic ambitions. It’s here where the narrative is perhaps the most conventional, but what pulls it through and keeps you engaged is the astonishingly good performances that come from both leads. Manal has previously fronted a few films: Parisienne back in 2015 and The Sea Ahead in 2021 -she’s apparently something of a rising actress, especially in France. But Nathalie makes her feature debut with The Swimmers -a movie that she often has to carry as its’ chief character with the most substantive personal arc. And for such a newcomer she is astounding, the varied dimensions of pain and longing she goes through are tangible -as is of course her chemistry with her sister. That relationship binds the movie and gives it that visceral emotional core it lacks in some of its’ story beats. Every moment of tenderness and conflict alike stings of a real attached and multi-faceted sisterhood, to the point it becomes the primary stakes. You’re not so much worried about them being caught at the Serbian border as much as them being separated.
The Issas lend real legitimacy to the characterization too, creating depth out of dispassionate biography. For example I love Sara’s gradual realization over the course of the film that she isn’t passionate about swimming all that much -that it was ingrained in her by her father rather than something she came to love on its’ own merits as her sister did. Sara’s journey is one of finding a purpose amidst desperation to safely bring her family over -and though it doesn’t get the same attention as Yusra’s athletic journey, it is quietly the more interesting. Also, Manal is just so exceptional as the tough, assertive, funny older sister who will act disparaging of responsibility yet take it on in a moments’ notice. She even makes a contrived semi-romance with a fellow refugee work. It’s an incredibly fun and exciting performance, matched only by the fierce devotion of Nathalie’s. Both these sisters deserve long, fruitful careers.
El Hossaini may be on the precipice of one too. She seems to yearn for more expression in her work here than might typically be allowed by an inspirational biopic. It takes form in a couple vivid dream or meditative sequences, one that shows effectively Nathalie’s oneness with the water, and another that illustrates her fear for her sister and anxiety with her abilities. There are also a few editing moments, such as one really nice match cut that demonstrate El Hossaini’s commitment to the beauty of her craft. Several scenes are quite beautiful, although some don’t exactly have the desired effect. It’s a very bold choice to juxtapose Yusra and Sara dancing at a club to “Titanium” with the first bombing of Damascus in the background for instance. But rather than convey the weight of a world of freedom being bombarded, the jubilant atmosphere of the music almost gives it a poor taste. Likewise the reveal in Lesbos of a beach full of discarded life jackets from other refugees in the pull-back shot goes from sobering commentary to overwrought imagery before it is a cut away from.
The movie is guilty of some misleading. Obviously of course the track with this kind of story is for the lead athlete to achieve triumphant validation after all her struggle. The whole last bit at the Rio Olympics is the most sensationalist part of the movie -right down to competitors dismissing Yusra’s talents as charity, and it would imply she is a gold medal winner (what it actually is depicting is a preliminary freestlye butterfly race that she happened to win -though everyone’s reaction would suggest she took home a trophy). Still, there is something satisfying to it and I think I can understand why The Swimmers was selected for the honour of opening this years’ TIFF -and not just for shallow reasons of its’ feel-good genre. There is a lot of sentiment put into this movie sure, but it rings at least true with a love for the story of these girls. The final shot, which serves as the movies’ poster, is rote, but at the same time moving. I left the theatre with nothing but respect for its’ sisters -both the Mardinis and the Issas.
The Swimmers comes to Netflix November 23rd.
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