He Named Me Malala

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

Learn more: https://www.malala.org

Trailer: https://youtu.be/vE5gSHJkusU    

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

Day 162 Date Night

May 20, 2015

(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th year where I write and illustrate a blog on each day's gift.)

It is easy to get lost in day-to-day activities as I check off items on my to do list. Tonight was a night to forget about anything that needs to be done and to sit back and be entertained. David received two free preview passes to see Spy, a comedy starring Melissa McCarthy. The movie does not pretend to be based in realism; it is full of impossible stunts and improbable plot. That’s part of what makes it so funny…along with outrageous dialogue and excellent casting. And then, right from the beginning, there are the intended spoofs of other spy/action movies—Bruce Willis, James Bond. I love that the lead is a heavy female who is strong—not your normal sexpot. It was good to relax and laugh with my husband and the double bonus was that the movie was free and we saw it before it has been released in the theaters.

Of course, after the film, David wanted to pose with the movie poster in the theater. I took a silly shot of him with my cell phone in the dimly lit hallway and he wore an appropriately worried expression as he held his hands in the air with McCarthy’s gun aimed toward him. During our more than 35 years together, we have had many laughs and posed for numerous silly pictures. Silliness is fun when you share it with someone else. Because my husband is master of silliness, puns and smart quips, I laugh frequently.

As we age together, I don’t worry about laugh lines and wrinkles. They are worth it. 

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” ~ William Shakespeare

My gift today is laughter.

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> Day 162  This Day

You can find links to my other posts on this project here:
http://bjschupp.blogspot.com/2014/12/365-gifts.html

Dogtooth

Often when the name of a movie is brought up in conversation, I have to ask my husband if I’ve seen it. There are two movies, however, that I won’t forget—Bergman’s Cries and Whispers and the more recent Greek film, Dogtooth, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Both are bizarre...surreal.

I don’t think they are the best films I’ve ever seen but rather they provoke thought and nudge me to look for answers to the questions they raise. I saw Cries and Whispers years ago and Dogtooth just a couple days ago at the Maryland Film Festival.

Briefly, Dogtooth is the story of a dysfunctional family with a father who puts his family into a gated property, far from the influences of the rest of the world. Both parents (the mother goes along with her husband), through a series of lies, warp reality for their three children who are in their late teens or early twenties but have the innocence of much younger children.

They teach their children that the world outside their gate is unsafe until their dogtooth, their canine incisor, falls out. And the children believe this, along with corrupted definitions of words. Sea is something you sit in and little yellow flowers are zombies. Their parents tell them that the airplanes which fly over their house are as small as the toy airplanes they play with.

This film is an allegory with a hint of classic Greek drama. It communicates how fear, as a way of life, warps truth and pushes reality out of reach.

Isolation and lack of normal human identity prevails. We hear no sound track or specific names of people and places, with the exception of Christina who is from the outside world. The characters conjure up visions of robots with their sometimes unnatural movement and speech and their restrained emotions. Even when the father beats his daughter with a video cartridge or when he brutally kills his son’s prostitute, Christina, with a video player, it is anger with robotic control.

Some movie elements suggest symbolic intent rather than literal. The children are referred to not by their names but by their positions within the family, such as “eldest.” Throughout the movie, planes periodically fly overhead with their chorus drone reminding us of the juxtaposition between the outside world and the inside, the truth and the lies.

The children are raised on fear...fear of the outside and fear of their parents. The film shows us what happens when people live in a fear-mongering environment where the truth is twisted. It demonstrates what happens when people are isolated from reality.

The family story is one fabricated by the father of them against us. With the introduction of Christina, a woman from the outside, to sexually pleasure their son, and who, unknown to the parents, also pleasures the eldest daughter, the children begin to gain knowledge that goes beyond the one book they have been allowed to read.

The movie raises questions. What are the dangers of isolation? Twisted trust and ignorance result, along with incestuous and unhealthy connections. What happens when we begin to know “them,” those who are different from us? We become less afraid and then begin to adjust our own definitions of who we are. The eldest daughter begins to form her own identity and call herself Bruce.

Dogtooth reminds us of some parallels in politics with attempts by our leaders to control through fear-mongering. How many people voted for George W. Bush because of the fear he and the Republican party instilled? How about the infractions on our civil liberties, all in the name of fear of outside forces? And how about the way political spindoctors twist definitions? Think about Glenn Beck’s followers who are eager to accept his strange version of truth and who accept the fear he instills about socialism in the U.S.

I doubt that Dogtooth will ever hit the mainstream theaters where movie-goers would most likely dwell on the sex and violence rather than its message. But to some of us who saw it at the Maryland Film Festival this weekend, we will remember this unsettling eccentric film and will continue to connect the dots for years to come.

Movie Review: Humpday

Humpday, an off-beat buddy movie, surprised me. I went to see the Baltimore screening with my husband David because we’re members of the Maryland Film Festival.

I hadn’t read about it before going but fully expected the typical formula for former college buddies who re-unite after going in different directions. I expected stupid run-of-the-mill sex jokes and gags. Instead I found something different.

Andrew (Joshua Leonard) knocks on Ben’s (Mark Duplass) door unannounced late one night after they parted ten years ago from wild-boy college days. Ben is married, owns a house, lives a white picket fence life and is starting to work on a family with his wife Anna (Alycia Delmore). Andrew is a wandering artist who has traveled the globe and lives a free-style life. One thing leads to another and they decide to make a porn movie that’s not porn but art and have sex together even though they are straight and not gay.

There’s much more to the story but I found the relationship dynamics interesting. The story was merely the vehicle to set the scene to examine relationships between two men and between a man and his wife. It looks at games we play in these relationships, what we hide from others as well as ourselves, how people are not always who they seem to be and how sometimes we have to push the boundaries in order to discover who we are.

Writer/director Lynn Shelton beautifully explores the ironies of life and relationships through able actors and realistic filming techniques. The camera is hand held and actors frequently walk in front of the lens, blocking all view from the audience. Dialogue among the characters mimics the rhythm of real conversations where one voice interrupts and sometimes several people are talking at once. The conversational flow and the camera work create a setting that pulls the viewer into the scene with a “you are there” feeling. In spite of the lack of car chase scenes, guns and explicit sex in the plot, this movie maintains a tension through its characters and dialogue.

Most of the audience for our screening got up and left as soon as the credits began to roll. They appeared to be eager to leave and not because they liked the movie. David and I talked with another senior couple—he liked it but she felt uncomfortable. David and I both liked it and how the movie makes you think about relationships in your own life.

You should see it and decide for yourselves. It is unlike any other buddy movie you have seen.

Humpday is a comedy and is rated R. It starts this Friday, July 31 at the Charles in Baltimore.

You can see the trailer .

To read a better written review of Humpday, check out the New York Times here:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/movies/10hump.html

And here's one from the Baltimore Sun with a focus on the writer/director, Lynn Shelton and the influence of the Maryland Film Festival on her creativity:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/bal-ae.li.humpday30jul30,0,2151511.story

By the way, Humpday does not have a Website by its title as most films do. If you go to http://humpday.com you’ll discover a search engine that very close to Google’s style. However, given its name and possibilities for implanted malicious code on computers, I wouldn't use it until I found out more.