The Swimmers (2022) on Netflix
PG-1320222h 14mBiographyDramaSport
After war destroys their house in Syria, teenage sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini leave for Lebanon and then Turkey, where smugglers will take them by dinghy to Greece. Both are swimmers.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.4/1041,051 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Yusra and Sarah Mardini are teenage sisters and swimmers in Syria. In 2015, after their house is destroyed in the civil war, they flee the country as refugees. Their route takes them first to Lebanon and then to Turkey, where they arrange with smugglers to be carried across the sea to Greece. At İzmir they board an overcrowded dinghy with other refugees, bound for the island of Lesbos. Besides the sisters, two other passengers can swim. Partway across the Aegean Sea the engine cuts out and the vessel starts to sink, so Yusra, Sarah and the two other swimmers go into the water to lighten it.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Swimmers (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
A closing credit notes that Yusra Mardini's sister Sarah, who had gone back to Lesbos in 2016 as part of voluntary efforts to help arriving refugees, was arrested and faced charges carrying potentially long prison sentences if she was convicted.- Principal photography on The Swimmers was suspended five days before it was due to start because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and production only got under way in April 2021.
