There are times when silence is not an option.
Pakistani teenager, Malala Yousafzai, an activist for global education is the subject of a new documentary film, “He Named Me Malala.” Her defining moment came at the age of 15 years old when she was targeted and shot by the Taliban while on a school bus for demanding girls’ rights to education.
Oscar-winning documentary film director Davis Guggenheim poetically captures an intimate portrait of Malala in her double role both as a quirky teenager who playfully arm-wrestles with her siblings, and as the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The Yousafzai family dynamic is the heart of the film. Viewers get the chance to meet Malala’s father Ziauddin, her mother Toor Pekai and brothers Atal and Khushal. They are a family who despite being subjected to violence, tyranny and death threats—to the point of being forced to leave their home—forgive Malala’s shooter.
After the bullet entered her left brow, Malala was evacuated from her Pakistani home in Swat Valley to Bermingham, England to receive expert medical care for the extensive surgery her injury required. Malala’s parents spoke of their reaction as they were on their way to the hospital, and Guggenheim recalls the reaction of her mother.
“On their way to the hospital Malala’s parents thought that she was dying, and her mother kept worrying about the mothers of the boys who shot her,” Guggenheim said.
Despite all odds, Malala survived, and scenes throughout the film follow her road to recovery.
The original idea for the documentary between producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald was to create a feature film version of Malala’s story. But after meeting the family in England, they changed their minds.
“We realized, ‘Who could ever play her?’” MacDonald said. “We saw that the family was so compelling; you just saw this family that had been plucked out of their home and suddenly in England. It was a much more powerful story. A narrative feature would probably just have covered up to her shooting and possibly recovery.”
The film pairs both live action and animation scenes to capture, as Guggenheim describes, “the storybook telling” of the memories and history of Malala’s family—from the story of the Afghan female warrior whom Malala was named after to the recollections Malala’s parents shared about their childhood.
“…What we realized was that the more detail we put into something, the more we got it wrong,” said animation designer Jason Carpenter. “Here we are as Westerners making a film about Malala, a girl from Pakistan, and we don’t have the insight or ability to be there and know the life history. And one of the goals is to get it close enough so [viewers] can feel it and approach it and make it accessible so that it imprints on [the audience].”
Having spent 18 months with the Yousafzai family, director Guggenheim was faced with the challenge of capturing the true portrait of Malala and her family. The goal was to present the film in such a way that the audience could get to know the Yousafzai family as well as Guggenheim did within the span of an 87-minute film.
Despite having multiple Oscar-winning documentaries under his belt, Davis Guggenheim struggled with how to capture the life-changing spirit of the Yousafzai family.
“It’s a very complicated story structure; being nonlinear it was very hard to do,” Guggenheim said. “I love this family so much, I love this girl and her father so much, and I had to get it right. If I screwed this up, I’m screwing up something more than a movie. It’s about helping the world understand who these people are.”
In spite of becoming a household name, Malala describes her efforts of sharing her story not because it is unique but because it is a story shared by many. Ultimately it sends a message on behalf of those who are deprived of education around world.
“We realize the importance of light, when we see darkness,” Malala said. “The importance of our voice, when we are silenced. Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are our most powerful weapons”
The “He Named Me Malala” will have a limited release in the United States on October 2, with its wide release on October 9.