Davis Guggenheim has fashioned this as a family film, crafting a documentary that preteens should see.
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And then the questions started coming. With her father, Ziauddin, she travels the globe offering solidarity with girls and women beleaguered by repressive ideologies and regimes.
“I am afraid of no one”, she says – just dogs. How this father and this girl did something so extraordinary? “He let me do what I wanted”. Given Hollywood’s obsession with superheroes and rebooting and superhero rebooting, it’s no shock that J.M. Barrie’s boy who could fly has been given his very own origin story, complete with parental abandonment in the prelude and the promise/threat of sequels at the end.
The Oklahoman graphic artist Ebony Iman Dallas painted this acrylic on canvas portrait of Malala Yousafzai for an upcoming exhibit in the Paseo Arts District.
That this apostle of education for all can be seen telling that to the General Assembly of the United Nations doesn’t stop her from getting a 73 on a history test and a 61 in physics. She used her voice.
Her crime? Speaking out against the terrorist group’s policy of shutting down schools and denying education to women. She spoke out and she was killed for speaking out. In England, she is at best a mediocre student (it’s unclear if this has to do with language) and something of a social outcast.
Humbled by Malala’s aspirations and efforts, American actress Meryl Streep hailed her as the worthy heiress of the suffragettes who battled for the right to vote in Britain in the early 20th century. An activist and education advocate himself, Malala has taken the values she’s learned from her father and evolved it into a global movement.
“The theme of the movie is how an ordinary person can find their voice and how powerful you can be if you express that”, Guggenheim told The Hollywood Reporter. There’s none of it. Malala talks about a few handsome boys, and maybe I missed someone smoking in the background or something, but no really, I’m reaching because I can’t leave this topic totally blank.
For the record, I am not calling “He Named Me Malala” boring.
Critics have been split on the format of the film, though they nearly universally agree the subject is inspiring – and collectively, the critics get it right. Guggenheim occasionally roots around for something deep, but all too often is content with the ride-along “a day in the life” footage.
Her fearlessness, and her message, earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
Like other teenagers, she looks at photos of Brad Pitt, speaks of her favourite book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and her passion for cricket. That event would catapult her onto the world stage. She knows what is like to be a refugee. Four hundred schools were torched – three in one night, including her father’s, in their own town. “So, she identifies very intimately with these girls”, he said.
Despite her life-threatening injuries, she has made a remarkable recovery and this summer gained six A*s and four A grades in her GCSEs, which she studied at Edgbaston High School for Girls. “She believes she’s been given a new life”, he said.
The relationship between Mr Yousafzai and his daughter is the focus of the documentary He Named Me Malala, which is released in November.
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MOVIEGOERS hankering for a female superhero needn’t wait for Wonder Woman. “Even if there was a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him”. And I want my daughters to feel that they can be Malala.
