Her book, I Am Malala, was a huge bestseller all over the world and is the inspiration for the documentary film. It’s both a mythical and prescient story-she’s named after a legend about a young Afghani folk hero who sacrificed herself to inspire and save her village.
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HE NAMED ME MALALA premiere was attended by Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, as well as many celebrity guests including Scarlett Johansson, Ivanka Trump, Elizabeth Shue, and Grammy victor Alicia Keyes.
She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund. Malala is the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate.
Yousafzai appealed to world leaders to imagine their own children suffering the abuses meted out by the Islamic State extremists, who have sexually enslaved girls from minority groups.
Following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, an interviewer asks if she had spoken to Obama about her concern that drone attacks “are fueling terrorism”, to which she responds, “Yes, of course”.
The film is effective at teasing out the strong bond between father and daughter, and also shows a few of the difficulties the family has had adjusting to life in Britain. Her father did something that is rarely done in patriarchal Muslim societies.
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“Not much”, Colbert quipped, before Yousafzai said: “I can see I haven’t heard anything yet”. Hearing Malala’s impassioned speeches about education for women as a basic human right is rousing stuff, but dialing up stirring, but familiar notes to underscore your admiration is about the only trick this movie has.
