The trailer for the upcoming Netflix drama The Swimmers, which is based on the actual tale of two siblings who created history through athletics, has been released. The plot revolves around the 2016 Rio Olympics and the period when two young sisters fled their home in war-torn Syria, risking their lives while using their champion swimming abilities to help others. In November, the film will debut in theatres around the country. The story of Yusra (Nathalie) and Sara (Manal) Mardini, depicted in the trailer for The Swimmers, will focus on three main plotlines: their training and competing days in civil war-ridden Syria; their terrifying experience in a lifeboat with a group of people who fled the country with them; and Yusra’s winning round at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Furthermore, the clip shows how challenging (if not impossible) it is to maintain regular life in a country that is now at war.
A sequence in which an aerial strike interrupts a swimming competition and sends everyone scrambling for shelter drives the point home. The teaser also hints that the sports plots will get a lot of screen time, with the sisters practising as hard as they can and never giving up on their quest of becoming world champions. The Swimmers stars real-life siblings Nathalie and Manal Issa alongside Ahmed Malek (The Furnace), Matthias Schweighöfer (Army of the Dead), Ali Suliman (Lone Survivor), Kinda Alloush (Excuse Me, French), James Krishna Floyd (Hulu’s No Man’s Land), and Elmi Rashid Elmi (Dune). Sally El Hosaini helms the film The Swimmers.
The director’s 2012 film My Brother the Devil, about two Egyptian brothers growing up in London and facing prejudice because of their ethnicity, received widespread praise and established him as a major voice in the industry. Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian – My Story of Rescue, Hope, and Triumph, written by Mardini herself, serves as the film’s source material. El Hosaini and Jack Thorne, who created the uplifting narrative and surprise smash Wonder in 2017 and HBO’s His Dark Materials, adapted the story for the cinema.
On November 26th, The Swimmers will make its debut on Netflix.