''A Stray'' is a 2016 American drama film starring Barkhad Abdirahman.

Plot

A young Somali man named Adan (played by Barkhad Abdirahman) is kicked out of his home and must survive on the streets of his hometown,

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. He begrudgingly befriends a stray dog, which brings him companionship. However, it also brings Adan further exile from his family, his friends, and his community, as caring for a dog as a pet may be seen as

haram ''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...

for Muslims, especially in Somali culture. The film explores loneliness and belonging with intimate shots of Minneapolis seen through the eyes of a downtrodden Somali immigrant.

Cast

*Barkhad Abdirahman as Adan *Christina Baldwin *Ifrah Mansour *

Faysal Ahmed Faysal Ahmed ( so, Faysal Axmed; born 11 July 1985) is a Somali Americans, Somali–American actor from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Early life Ahmed was born one of nine children in 1985 in Yemen. Although his family is originally from Somalia, he g ...

* Fathia Absie *Ismael Abdullahi

Reception

The film has a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Omer M. Mozaffar of RogerEbert.com awarded the film four stars. Chris Hewitt of the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'' awarded it three and a half stars. Colin Covert of the ''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'' gave the film three and a half stars out of four. However, the film received a negative review from Thaddeus McCollum and Cameron Meier of ''

Orlando Weekly ''Orlando Weekly'' is a liberal progressive alternative newsweekly distributed in the Greater Orlando area of Florida. Every Thursday, 40,000 issues of the paper are distributed to more than 1,100 locations across Orange, Osceola and Seminole coun ...

''; they awarded the film one and a half stars out of five.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stray, A 2016 films American drama films Somali-language films Films set in Minnesota Films shot in Minnesota 2010s American films