'The Swimmers' review: Based on the true story of Syrian refugees Sara and Yusra Mardini, the film is about swimming against the tide

'The Swimmers' is based on the true story of Syrian sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who swam for three hours in the Aegean Sea to reach safe shores in Greece. (screen grab)

One of the most powerful sequences in the new Netflix movie The Swimmers is that of the life jackets. Thousands of them are heaped up by the shore off the coast of Greece, a symbol of the millions of refugees who took a boat across the perilous sea in search of a better life.

From 'The Swimmers' on Netflix

Based on the true story of Syrian sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini—played in the film by real sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa, respectively—who left their conflict-torn country for Europe illegally, the film is as much a sports story as it is of homelessness, of refugees and the price humans pay for war. The place with the life jackets actually exists, Yusra had said in an interview.

The Swimmers is about 17-year-old Yusra, who harbours dreams of representing Syria in the Olympics, but is forced to leave the country in 2015 with Sara, who does not possess the same burning ambition in sport, and a cousin Nizar. They fly to Turkey as tourists, take a boat to Greece along with more than a dozen other refugees from places as diverse as Afghanistan and Eritrea in Africa. The inflatable boat, meant for far fewer people, runs into engine trouble in the middle of the ocean and starts filling up with water.

The sisters bravely jump into the ocean, swim for three hours in the freezing Aegean Sea so that the boat’s load is reduced till the entire lot hits the Greek shores in Lesbos. This is where the crew walks past the debris of piled up life jackets. They make their way to Germany partly on foot, in a car and on a bus after going through some traumatic experiences that makes them question their decision to leave home.

The Mardini sisters’ story became well-known when Yusra participated the very next year in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics as part of the IOC Refugee team, having settled in Berlin, Germany. She competed in the 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly in Rio and in the butterfly event in the Tokyo Olympics last year.

One of the most poignant moments in the film comes when the three refugees finally make it to a camp in Berlin. On their first night, Nizar demands what he was promised in Germany—music, dance and a night club. The three of them then dance to music in a room in the camp, their celebration of surviving a journey into the unknown.

Equally moving is the sequence when Yusra has to throw away her precious medals into the sea in an effort to take load off the sinking boat. These are medals she is carrying as a testament to her swimming prowess, having represented Syria in international competitions.

Real sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa play Yusra and Sara Mardini, respectively.

Director Sally El Hosaini had a powerful story to work with, of separation, faith and friendships. This is the story of just three of the 5.7 million Syrians who have become refugees since 2011; there is no account of how many did not make it.

The Issa sisters’ natural chemistry makes their characters’ relationship believable. Manal as the rebellious Sara and Ahmed Malek as Nizar evoke empathy—and often a smile.

While Yusra is the central character to this piece—this is about her journey culminating in Rio—her sister will get her own film. A documentary, Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini, will release next year which will begin where The Swimmers ends. According to a Variety report, the film follows Sara who spent three years volunteering to help refugees who follow the same journey as theirs’. Sara was arrested by Greek authorities in 2018 on charges that include espionage and smuggling people. The film is shot over three years of Sara’s fight for justice, Variety adds.

Yusra, who got her German citizenship, will no longer be eligible to participate for the Refugees team. While she has not ruled out going to Paris 2024 as part of the German team, her role increasingly has been that of a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR – UN refugee agency.

Sporting stories on celluloid usually end with triumph, of a more direct kind, like a medal or a first-place finish. Yusra won her first qualifying race in Rio but her journey ended there. Her triumph, as her sister tells her later in The Swimmers, was making it across the sea, swimming in the dark on turbulent ocean waters aside a sinking boat full of desperate people. Her triumph comes from merely making it to the Olympics, with help from a generous German coach Sven in Berlin, her doggedness and determination in not allowing their several hardships to distract her from her Olympic ambitions.

This film is, literally, about swimming against the tide.