‘I Was a Stranger” review: Filmmaker’s debut feature is powerful

Early on in “I Was a Stranger,” we follow Amira (Yasmine Al Massri), a physician working at a hospital in war-torn Syria in the late 2010s. As she tries to save the lives of wounded men, explosions rattle outside the building, bullets crash through a window and a patient pulls a gun on her. When her shift is over, she finds her young daughter, Rasha (Massa Daoud), has come to fetch her; it is Amira’s birthday, a fact she has forgotten. It will prove to be the worst of her life. Going wider this week after a recent limited theatrical release, “I Was a Stranger” is the undeniably impressive — and, at times, heartbreaking — feature debut of writer-director Brandt Andersen, who adapted it from...