I was a girl in a land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son,
while daughters are hidden away behind a curtain, their role in life
simply to prepare food and give birth to children.” Malala Yousafzai
She was also in a land where girls were in danger for trying to get an education. He Named Me Malala,
a documentary by Davis Guggenheim, is the compelling story of Malala Yousafzai,
a young Pakistani girl from the beautiful remote Swat region, who champions
girls’ rights to education. Her father Ziauddin Yousafzai named her after a
national Pakistani folk hero, a female who rallied Pashtun fighters against
British troops in 1880 and led her people to victory in battle saying, “It is
better to live one day as a lion than 100 days as a slave.” October of 2012 on
the way to school on a bus, the real Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban
who wanted to squelch her activism. Not expected to survive, after surgery and
therapy in England, she thrives and continues to speak out for the right to
education. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, the youngest person
to ever receive the honor.
The
extremists are afraid of books and pens, the power of education frightens them.
They are afraid of women.” ~ Malala
I
had read her book I Am Malala a year ago and
anticipated an okay movie but was surprised with one that was informative,
artistic and moving. Through news clips, I saw images of the Swat region,
learned how the Taliban leader Fazlullah slid the slope from a welcome
religious leader to a violent one who was threatened by education, killed
people who were outspoken and burned schools. (Shades of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451?) When doing
a documentary and trying to relate a timeline, it is impossible to film scenes
that have already occurred unless they are reenacted. In this documentary,
these gaps are filled in artistically with shadowy, out of focus moving images
and beautiful animations. Throughout the film, there is a beautiful balance and
flow with elements of news images, artistic images and real-life family scenes.
Voice
becomes a symbolic element. Malala’s father stuttered when he was a child but
eventually overcame this to give speeches. In the animations, voice is shown
graphically as waves of Urdu traveling from a speaker’s mouth. Sometimes the
black lines swim out and then fall downward but, when successful, bright waves
flow far outward.
I
raise up my voice-not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be
heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” ~ Malala
When
the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” ~ Malala
In
the film, Malala is shown interacting with her family as any normal teenager
does. When asked what her life would be like if she had been an ordinary girl
from Swat, Malala answers, “I’m still an ordinary girl, but if I had an
ordinary father and an ordinary mother, then I’d have two children now.” She
giggles as she looks at photos of tennis and cricket players and Brad Pitt, she
admits her struggles with homework and grades, she arm wrestles with one of her
brothers and shows her autographed copy of her own book.
The documentary clearly communicates
the relationship between a daughter and her progressive father but does not say
much about Malala’s reserved mother. As they travel about in their new home in
England, her mother tells her not to shake hands with men and to look
down. Malala responds, “If they can look at me, I can look at them.” Mother and
daughter are from two generations.
From what I’ve read, most people who experience near-death
events, such as the Taliban's attempt on Malala’s life, have to deal with PTSD. I
wonder if she receives therapy for this horrible experience but
the film does not delve into this. She is questioned and encouraged to talk
about her physical and emotional pain but she is reluctant and the filmmaker
does not press her to do so. Instead, it is shown through images. In the
hospital scenes, Malala rarely smiles. Her pain is evident on her face without
words. After her recovery, in the film she seems to smile and laugh all the
time—but not quite. There are wordless images of her unsmiling face with
shadows flickering and falling on it. The smiles disappear and her thoughts
retreat to darker layers. The filmmaker obviously made a decision to allow a
young girl to control how much pain she would share. Mostly revealing the
positive and moving forward may very well be her therapy for dealing with the
past.
Near the end of the movie, part of her
speech at the United Nations strikes an emotional nerve. Her clear, passionate
voice rings out in the General Assembly for the entire world to hear—a voice
that is stronger than ever, in spite of those who would silence it. That is the
time for the tissue.
I am not a lone voice. I am many.” ~ Malala
After seeing the film tonight, both my husband and I agree
that it should be up for an Academy Award for documentary film. Not all
reviewers agree with this, however. Some suggest that it verges on manipulation
of an icon and does not go beneath the surface. I suppose these people were expecting
a different purpose for the film. I was not. I see the purpose as a narrative
of a modern-day young, inspirational female hero that included historical facts, told the
story in the most artistic way that an attempted murder might be told, and
connected with me emotionally. This film is 87 minutes long and choices had to
be made about what to put in, what to leave out and how to focus the content. I
am sure there are many other layers in the story but they should be revealed in
a different film.
Today, Malala’s activism reaches beyond Pakistan, a home
that she and her family cannot return to without certain attempts on
their lives. The film shows scenes in some parts of the world where children are not
guaranteed an education and girls especially are forbidden to attend school. Worldwide, more than half of the children out of school are girls. A United Nations report states there are 57 million children in the world who do not have a school to go to. According to Unesco, these countries have the most children out of school: Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, India, Philippines, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Niger, Yemen and Mali. I'm sure in an updated report, this list would include Syria.
One child, one teacher, one book and one pen—they can
change the world.” ~ Malala
If I were still teaching middle school, I would organize a
field trip for my students to see this movie. I’m hoping that many students
from grades 7-12 will see this. There is a good chance this will happen because
National Geographic announced that it has acquired broadcasting rights to the film and will air it in 171
countries in 45 languages. In addition, a free curriculum guide for secondary
classes and a discussion guide for college classes will be available in English
and other languages.
Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful
weapons." ~ Malala
He Named Me Malala: Documentary
Runtime: 87 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Availability: Select theaters October 9
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Music composed by: Thomas Newman
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Producers: Davis Guggenheim, Laurie MacDonald, Walter Parkes
