[2] The film follows Yasmin, a mother of four living in a tent in the port of Athens; Samra, a widow on the Turkey-Syria border grappling with the decision to leave her children in an orphanage in hopes of giving them a better life; 22-year-old Omar, who has taken on the role of a parent for his younger brother Abed in Pennsylvania;[3] Diaa, who has remained in Syria while tirelessly searching for her "disappeared" son; and Safwan, Yasmin's husband, who lives in temporary housing in Germany and yearns to be reunited with his children.

Claire Shaffer of The New York Times chose Simple as Water as an NYT Critics Pick, writing that "Megan Mylan's latest documentary feature takes a humble idea — telling intimate and humanizing stories of Syrian families affected by their home country's civil war — and achieves it on a nakedly ambitious scale.

"[4] Michael Rechtshaffen of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the daily existence of a quartet of displaced Syrian families, forced apart by the ravages of war, is tenderly profiled in Megan Mylan's Simple as Water, an achingly poignant testament to the unwavering strength of parental and filial bonds.

From brotherly protection, motherly love, and the playful guidance of a sibling, these closely observed scenes show touching stories of resilience and reveal ties that bind families together in the face of adversity.

"[1] Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire wrote that "Simple unfolds more like a riveting neorealist drama, with no trace of the woman and her crew behind the camera, no talking heads, no filmmakerly intervention of any kind... From the looks of the film, you wouldn't seem wrong to think that Mylan simply observed her subjects.