Directed by: David Guggeinheim.
The story of Malala
Yousafzai is an important an inspiring one. She is the now 18 year old
Pakistani girl, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for the crime of
advocating for girls to have access to the same education as boys do, when she
was just 15 years old. He survived the horrific attack, and rather than being
silenced, she has continued to speak out on behalf of her beliefs – eventually
becoming the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. She still travels
the world – giving speeches and interviews, and serves as an inspiration for
young girls – and truly anyone – everywhere in the world. She is funny and
smart, and charming. Why then is He Named Me Malala, which focuses on this
inspiring story, such a bore of a movie?
The film was directed by
Davis Guggeinheim, who knows how to make a documentary – his previous films
include An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman – two films that also
took on important subject matter, and while neither were technically stunning,
they presented the material well, and got the important parts of the story out.
What both of those films share with He Named Me Malala however is the distinct
feeling that they have been made with a classroom setting in mind – that
Guggeinheim means to educate you more than anything else. In that sense, I
guess, He Named Me Malala does work – my wife wants to show to it to her high
school class, and they may well get something out of it. However, if you’re looking
for a great documentary, this isn’t it.
The biggest problem
seems to be that Guggeinheim never really presses Malala to say anything she
hasn’t already said in countless interviews. The film does get a few moments of
her being a normal kid at home – and going through the same stuff every
teenager does at school – wondering if others will like her, etc. You sense a
few times Guggeinheim trying to push – to get Malala to address maybe some more
controversial topics, or address her more outspoken critics, etc. – but he
backs off quickly. Like many people who have gotten use to fame, and the press,
Malala is skilled at shutting down questions she does not want to answer – and
Guggeinheim respects that. There are worse things you can say about a filmmaker
than that he was too respectful of an 18 year old Nobel Peace Prize winner –
but it does hurt the documentary a little bit.
In
short, if you know nothing about Malala, than you probably should watch the
film – just to hear her extraordinary story. If, however, you do know it –
there’s really not much else here. The best documentaries about public figures
shine a light on them, and let you see them in a different way. This is not one
of those films.
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