STORYLINE: A doctor, a soldier, a smuggler, a father, and a captain. In a world divided by borders and war, five lives intersect in the pursuit of safety and belonging. Their journeys reveal the heartbreak and fragile beauty of those who dare to start over. (IMDb)

    Frozen River (2008), Crossing Over (2009), Sicario (2015), and Migration (2023) all cover the topic of immigration and/or specifically the struggles of crossing international borders. The latest Angel Studios release, I Was a Stranger, takes on these very issues.

   I Was a Stranger is an overly ambitious film.  It features multiple story lines, as it tells the struggles of its characters, crossing borders or effected by those crossing borders.  The movie features mukrioles stories.  Each story is told to completion before the next story begins. Tgis happens in rapid succession, over the course of the hundred and four minute runtime. 

    The problem with I Was a Stranger, is each story and character is never fully developed.  I felt each story was incomplete.  I didn’t care for the characters because they were underdeveloped. 

    I thought the concept for I Was a Stranger was there, just not the execution of the feature.

    Until next time I will see you at the movies!