I Was a Stranger (2025) [Movie Review] — A Compassionate, Multiperspective Portrait of Survival

Brandt Andersen’s debut feature, I Was a Stranger, stakes a claim as a contemporary drama that refuses easy answers. By showing one desperate night through five different viewpoints, the film asks who is owed mercy in the chaos of conflict — and how quickly ordinary people can be forced into impossible choices. In its quiet insistence on human complexity, the film feels urgently necessary.

Premise — five strangers, one night on the Mediterranean

The plot centers on Amaria (Yasmine Al Massri), a Syrian doctor who flees war-ravaged Aleppo with her daughter. Their flight intersects with four others — Mustafa the soldier (Yahya Mahayni), Marwan the smuggler (Omar Sy), Fathi the poet (Ziad Bakri), and Stavros the coast guard captain (Constantine Markoulakis) — as survival, duty, and conscience collide on the sea. Andersen frames the story as five linked vignettes, each titled for its protagonist, and returns to Amaria years later to measure the cost of that single night.

Structure & storytelling — an effective device with small limits

The movie’s split-perspective approach is the clearest asset: it refuses to privilege a single moral lens and instead assembles empathy through contrast. Seeing the same crisis refracted through different motivations builds tension and moral ambiguity. That said, Andersen’s habit of ending each viewpoint on a cliffhanger — while dramatic — occasionally shortchanges moments that deserve longer emotional attention. Allowing certain scenes to breathe would have amplified the film’s resonance.

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Performances — nuanced, committed, and heartbreakingly human

The acting is uniformly excellent. Yasmine Al Massri anchors the film with a performance that balances professional composure and private terror; her Amaria is simultaneously a caregiver and a survivor. Yahya Mahayni conveys Mustafa’s internal tug-of-war with subtle restraint, his face doing eloquent work where words would fail. Omar Sy surprises in a layered turn as Marwan, delivering warmth, ruthlessness, and fatherly urgency in quick succession. Ziad Bakri and Constantine Markoulakis round out the core ensemble with quiet, memorable portrayals that deepen the film’s moral texture.

Direction & technicals — restrained craft that serves the story

For a directorial debut, Andersen shows a clear command of tone and tempo. The cinematography captures both cramped panic and open-sea vulnerability, while the editing knits the five perspectives into a cohesive pulse. Sound design often does the heavy lifting, converting small human sounds into a larger atmosphere of dread and hope. The score rarely intrudes, which is a strength — the soundtrack supports rather than instructs the viewer’s emotional response.

Where the film could sharpen — pacing and the urge to resolve

Though the film’s intentions are strong, a few choices undercut its full impact. The repeated cliffhanger structure risks fatigue; some viewers may prefer scenes that let grief and consequence linger rather than move briskly to the next viewpoint. Likewise, the film occasionally leans toward exposition where silence might have spoken louder. A handful of character beats could use further development to make the stakes even more palpable.

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Final verdict — a compassionate, morally engaged debut

I Was a Stranger is an accomplished first film: brave in its moral curiosity, humane in its portrait of people crushed and defined by circumstance, and anchored by affecting performances. It doesn’t offer tidy resolutions — nor does it pretend they exist — but it does invite the audience to hold multiple truths at once. For viewers open to a quietly powerful meditation on duty, desperation, and mercy, Brandt Andersen’s film is a memorable and moving watch.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)