Although I pay some attention to the news and always have I have no clear recollection of ever seeing news of swimmer Diana Nyad’s epic efforts to swim from Cuba to Florida, either in 1978 or in the 2010s.  It is certainly a remarkable story, one of endless perseverance, yet it makes me wonder if it was worth the insane amount of effort, time, cost and trauma that was incurred.  The movie makes the case that of course it was, and I am hard pressed to argue about it.

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s film begins with authentic footage of Diana Nyad in her 1970s heyday, swimming for hours at a time all around the world, but failing to make the 110-mile journey from Cuba to Florida.  Thirty years later, restless Nyad (Annette Bening) decides it is time to try again.  She begins to train herself for the endurance necessary, recruits her best friend Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) to manage her effort and starts to assemble a team of people (and the necessary sponsors) to guide and protect her on her prospective journey.  Can she do it?  Not the first time, nor the second.  But she keeps trying.

The film works as a character study due to the precise writing of at least three major characters, beginning with Diana Nyad, a hard-nosed, stubborn, mulish woman who simply refuses to stop trying until she accomplishes a particular goal.  Oscar nominee Annette Bening is powerful on land and graceful in the water, unapologetic and determined.  As her best friend, Oscar nominee Jodie Foster is really the voice of the narrative, explaining things to and for other characters, smoothing ruffled feathers, usually upbeat and encouraging, finally strong enough to say she has had enough at one point.  And as navigator John Bartlett, Rhys Ifans gives a tantalizingly gentle and sensitive performance; he becomes the movie’s conscience.

The movie is appropriately dramatic and suspenseful; its two brief shark scenes are effective, if all too brief.  I think the film fulfills its ambition of explaining why Diana Nyad was so intent on this achievement, how difficult it was to actually achieve it, how it affected those that accompanied her on her journey and how the public reacted to news of it.  Good for her, I guess.  I’m back to doubting the need for such a stunt, for it seems to me that that’s what it really is.  Like sitting on top of a pole for a few days.  It can be done, but why do it?  It’s amazing that Nyad could swim for days at a time, but I’m not sure that’s something to really celebrate.  It’s something I could never, ever do; I prune too much in the water.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  14 May 2026.