Review of the Documentary ‘He Named Me Malala’

October 9th, 2012, changed a young 15-year-old teenage girl named Malala Yousafzai’s life forever. One day coming home from school, the voice of an innocent girl was silenced after the blaring sound of the Taliban’s bullet pierced through Malala’s head. After a miraculous recovery, Malala was determined to send a message to the world; one that invoked women empowerment and a new stage for progression for women’s education. To do this she confronted the very enemy that attempted to kill her - the Taliban, a group of men who grew in strength as they terrorized Swat Valley, Pakistan. They not only controlled that area, but also banned women from receiving their education. As a result, Malala stepped forward and voiced her opinions on women’s rights. She believes that nobody has the right to take women’s education away from them. Although she was threatened by the Taliban, she still had the courage to continue to fight for women's rights, and inspired the youth to become more politically involved in societal issues. The documentary, ‘He Named Me Malala’, drives a sense of motivation to help causes and stir a sympathetic light in the viewer, especially the younger generations about being stronger activists, and how we all are capable of standing up for our rights.

The documentary starts off with an animation featuring Malala, which specifically teaches the viewers about being better activists by taking inspiration from historical events and previous activists. As the Afghans were running away in fear from the British, a girl who was wearing bright pink clothes, caught the audience's attention. As she saw the Afghans running away, hopeless and scared, she ran to the top of the mountain and raised her voice saying, “It is better to live like a lion for one day than to live like a slave for a hundred years”. Malala with her strong voice motivated the Afghans and led everyone back onto the battlefield, but unfortunately, she died from a gunshot. The animation helps the audience understand the fear the Afghan’s were enduring - it felt as if the audience, to some extent, comprehended the emotional burdens and anxiety the civilization as a whole were experiencing. Malala's bravery not only inspired the Afghans but guided the audience in their realization that all we need is motivation, especially in today’s political climate. This prehistoric war taught younger generations, such as Malala’s family, that anyone can be brave enough to stand up for what they believe in. Even though there are so many activists out there fighting for what they believe in, it helps more people to do the same exact thing.

The tragedy Malala had experienced helps create a sense of sympathy for the viewer, causing them to understand more, as Malala is being taken to the hospital. This was specifically observed in the hospitalization scene where the people of Pakistan were holding posters of Malala, praying that she would survive— showing that the people of Pakistan admired her bravery. Sympathy and admiration circulated around the neighboring countries, and eventually the whole world. During the scene when everyone was praying for Malala to survive, in the background a newscaster said, “Now millions of people around the world are watching to see if she will die for her cause”. Although most individuals are aware about the incident, it teaches everyone a lesson about how a young girl was willing to sacrifice her life for what she believed in despite being threatened every day by the Taliban. Normally, if someone were to get shot in the head and nearly almost died they would be scarred for the rest of their lives and hide away from those that can hurt them again. It took a lot of courage for Malala to not hide and use her pain as a means to change the world. After Malala’s recovery she went on the news to inspire her audience and still continued to focus on giving every woman a good education they deserve. Towards the end of the documentary during Malala’s speech she mentioned, “They thought that the bullet would silence us, but nothing changed except this: weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. Strength, power, and courage were born. I am the same Malala”. Malala believes that in order for her to become a strong activist, she would never let fear, weakness, and hopelessness hinder her pursuit of helping other young women receive an education. Malala’s goal is to inspire everyone to start being brave and courageous enough to stand up for what they believe in. Not only that, Malala wants the audience to understand that it is okay for all of us to have that fear, but we all need to have faith that will achieve our goals to help make the world a better place.

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The story of Malala’s father and his relationship with his daughter teaches us about whenever our rights are being violated, we have the choice to fight back. Malala gained much inspiration from her father, who like Malala, has a strong passion for supporting and fighting for feminism. After Malala’s incident, in the film, Yousafzai said to himself: “I was a child. You should have stopped me. What has happened to you is because of me”. From what Yousafzai has said, the audience can infer that he blames himself for what has happened to his own daughter. Yousafzai's emotions are understandable because, watching his own daughter barely surviving, he felt that he was responsible for inspiring his daughter into becoming an activist. An article written by Ziauddin Yousafzai, he discussed his life before he got married and had a family. Yousafzai mentioned, “And, worst of all, I saw how I got to go to school, while my sisters stayed home, crippling their future”. Yousafzai realized that he saw women being oppressed in their own household, due to their gender. He believes that women are fully capable of receiving education and have the potential to become successful individuals, contrasting the housewife role that women of that area were taught to become. At this moment, the audience realizes exactly what Yousafzai meant; that the Taliban should have stopped him instead. Yousafzai was fighting for women’s rights and got threatened but never was injured because of the gender difference - Malala is a girl and he was a boy. The Taliban had the audacity to attack a young girl instead of Yousafzai when he was a young boy. The audience realizes the situation occured due to gender discrimination and that we need to stand up and fix this before it gets worse. Yousafzai also realized that in order to end the society's portrayal of gender discrimination, the first step is not to allow that in his own household. The message of this story is that gender should not and cannot be the character that defines who should and should not be able to speak up for what they believe.

The portrayal of Malala’s ‘normal’ life shows that it allows us to realize that we are all capable of being empowered. During an interview, Malala was asked a question, “Who would you have been if you were just an ordinary girl from Swat Valley?”. Malala replied back and said, “If I was an ordinary girl from Swat Valley, I am still an ordinary girl… So, this would have been my future. You would have seen Malala sitting with her two babies”. Malala wants the audience to realize that it is possible to be a strong, passionate activist while having a normal life. Rose Pacatte discusses this in her article, ‘He Named Me Malala: A Normal Heroic Girl’, where she talks about Malala as an inspirational role model that everyone could look up to. Pacatte mentioned an interesting point in her article, “As most people know, she was the co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her continuing efforts to promote education around the world, just as she is a normal girl in Birmingham, England, struggling to get good marks in school”. Pacatte perceives Malala as a ‘normal girl’, which is significant because Malala and her achievements have always been depicted as unattainable for an average person, her being described as a “normal girl” contrast society’s perception of her. Malala’s portrayal as ‘normal girl’ paints her as an ordinary woman fighting for her rights, and if the audience views her as this normal person, it somewhat can make her achievement attainable. As if the audience themselves, if they voice their own opinions that similar results will also occur in their lives. Overall, Malala teaches the audience that we are able to balance our lives by being strong, inspiring activists.

The documentary, ‘He Named Me Malala’, not only inspires the younger generations to become driven activists but also provokes sympathetic emotions from the viewers. The film teaches the audience a valuable lesson that becoming politically involved in the issues that concern them has the ability to inspire others, and maybe even the world. Malala’s determination and experiences induces her audience to have passion and courage to fight for the political issues that occur in today’s society.