Sabine, a housewife just recently separated from her husband, finds herself alone during the Christmas season. To gain recognition from friends and family, she decides to throw herself into putting on a play about William Tell, with a group of asylum seekers as actors, even though she is completely unprepared for the amount of effort needed for the project. The members of this improvised troop have other problems than Sabine’s play. When the Tell performance suddenly finds itself in the crossfire of the media, Sabine manages to successfully put on the play by surpassing her limitations. But what is it that really motivates her?

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Directed by Peter Luisi, this is a patriotic comedy that is both caustic and funny. A Swiss feel-good movie about the fates of a handful of asylum seekers lost in the Alps who blow the dust off the founding myth of Switzerland. This film is reminiscent of one of the most successful movies in Swiss history, Rolf Lissy’s Swiss Makers, which came out in 1978. That movie also used a satirical tone to tell the story of people applying for Swiss citizenship who are confronted with bureaucracy and cultural barriers. Unlikely Heroes is a touching film with characters everyone can identify with. Despite a few stereotypes, the movie is nicely balanced and the cast makes all the difference.