“The Swimmers” is inspired by the true story of teenage Olympic athlete and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini who, in 2015, along with her sister Sara and two others, dragged a boat full of fellow refugees across the Aegean sea.
After the girls made it to Germany, Yusra was selected along with ten others to compete with the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Her story is undeniably heroic, which makes the mediocrity of the Netflix film of her life story all the more disappointing.
Director Sally El Hosaini (“My Brother The Devil”) took over the reins from Stephan Daldry, whose 9/11 drama “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is perhaps an all-time low in well-meaning but ultimately hollow Best Picture nominees.
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