PG-13 | 1h 43m | Drama | 2026
The suffering depicted in this film is directly attributable to the Assad regime and their Iranian allies. Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has since fallen. Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian Quds commander, was in charge of foreign operations, such as the regime’s intervention in the Battle of Aleppo. He has since faced eternal judgment when the first Trump administration accurately targeted him with a surgical drone strike.
Yet the tribulations continued unabated for many of the surviving victims of Aleppo. The lives of several Syrians of vastly different backgrounds crisscross and intertwine as they flee the urban warfare ravaging Aleppo in director-screenwriter Brandt Andersen’s ensemble drama, “I Was a Stranger.”
Dr. Amira Homsi (Yasmine al Massri) will be one of Andersen’s focal characters, but her story almost ends prematurely during her final shift at the Aleppo hospital. An injured soldier loyal to the regime threatens to kill her when he sees Dr. Homsi treating a wounded rebel.
This eventful day also happens to be Dr. Homsi’s birthday, but tragedy hits home (literally) during her family’s celebration, sparing only Homsi and her daughter Rasha (Massa Daoud). At this point, she decides they must flee the carnage of Aleppo for her daughter to have any hope of a future.
Their paths intersect with that of another featured character, Mustafa Faris (Yahya Mahayni), a loyalist soldier guarding the checkpoint out of town. Faris is especially zealous to compensate for the activism of his dissident father Adeem (Fares Helou). However, the ruthlessness of a high-ranking intelligence officer (Carlos Chahine) challenges Faris’s unquestioning obedience.
Eventually, the survivors of the resulting checkpoint incident join Fathi. “The Poet” (Ziad Bakri) and his young family, in a Turkish refugee camp, seek the services of Marwan (Omar Sy). The film dubs him “The Smuggler,” but the term “human trafficker” would be more apt. As Marwan repeatedly explains to his new accomplice, Shaheen (Ayman Samman), they get paid up front, so it does not matter whether their customers successfully endure the rough crossing to Greece, or not.
Those who make it will more likely owe their survival to Capt. Stavros Salamon (Constantine Markoulakis) and his colleagues in the Hellenic Coast Guard than traffickers like Marwan and Shaheen. However, the sheer volume of drowned Syrians Salamon has fished out of the Aegean plunged “The Captain” into a severe depression, straining his relationships with his family.
Andersen structures the film similarly to Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” He rewinds each section to provide more context to previous scenes. He then holds back the resolution of each crisis until everything is (sort of) tied together at the end.
Bringing each of the five diverse characters to the fore of their respective arcs helps convey the sweeping impact of the chaos unleashed by the Syrian Civil War. Some of the temporal gamesmanship comes across as too forced, however. Frankly, it sometimes undermines the flow of Andersen’s narrative.
Powerful Cast
The ensemble cast invests their characters with considerable life, often elevating them beyond their stereotyped functions. Mahayni is a fierce presence as Faris. However, the sense of righteousness he projects makes his awakening of conscience play out as not such a contrived 180-degree turn. Chahine is deeply unsettling, but perversely hypnotic as the Assad regime’s intel boss, because he is so icily cerebral and cunning.
Al Massri and Daoud are convincingly earnest and believably terrified as the Homsi mother and daughter, respectively; they represent the film’s most straightforward characters, with the most predictable arcs. Bakri’s performance as The Poet is cut from similar cloth, but it has a bit more bite and angst.
In contrast, Sy’s uncompromisingly steely portrayal of Marwan arguably serves as a microcosm of Andersen’s themes. Tender and protective at home, Marwan treats strangers with callous cruelty. Conversely, Markoulakis is truly haunting as the emotionally exhausted Captain. Fans of “Chicago P.D.” will also enjoy Jason Beghe’s brief appearances as an American doctor in the wraparound segments.
At times, Andersen (a self-described “activist,” as well as an executive producer on “Journey to Bethlehem” and Martin Scorsese’s “Silence”) gets rather preachy with the migrant-advocacy messaging.
However, the film’s depiction of life under the old Iranian-aligned Syrian regime is viscerally chilling and accurately grounded in historical realities. Andersen also maintains a healthy pace and a genuinely gripping level of tension.
As a film, “I Was a Stranger” wears its convictions on its sleeve, but it is adroitly executed. Recommended for the effective blend of tension and humanism.
“I Was a Stranger” releases in theaters Jan. 9.
‘I Was a Stranger’
Director: Brandt Andersen
Starring: Yasmine al Massri, Yahya Mahayni, Omar Sy, Constantine Markoulakis, Jason Beghe
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Release Date: Jan. 9, 2026
Rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to features@epochtimes.nyc
