Movie Review: ‘A Stray’

Review by Bluray Junkies

A Stray is a simple story about a young Muslim Adan played by Barkhad Abdirahman (Captain Philips) who is a Somalian refugee living in Minneapolis. After he is thrown out of his mother’s apartment, he seeks shelter with friends who leads him on a string of bad influences. After a disagreement with his friends, he finds himself wandering the streets again, with nowhere to go he finds shelter and safety in a Mosque. An owner of a restaurant meets Adan and gives him a job delivering food.

After an accident, Adan crosses paths with a stray dog. The stray follows Adan and won’t leave his side, however Adan is conflicted between trying to and his religious rules that dogs are an unclean animal, yet he doesn’t want to abandon the dog. Adan soon finds himself once again wandering the streets and homeless, when he’s approached by an FBI agent who will give him a place to live, food and money in exchange for being an FBI informant in the Muslim community. Adan is conflicted, unsure of the repercussions of becoming an informant and finds unmeasurable comfort in the stray dog.

The film is very heart warming and tragic at the same time as Adan finds that neither he nor the dog can live without each other.

Director Musa Syeed’s beings us a very stunning film as he really evokes not only what it’s like being homeless but a homeless Muslim in America. Barkhad Abdirahman performance is touching and is an actor that understands the human emotion. A Stray was nominated for the SXSW Grand Jury Award for a Narrative Feature and for good reason. The direction, cinematography, story, writing and performances are all on full effect. The film is a pleasure to watch and highly recommended.

3.5 Out of 4 stars