Malala Yousafzai was targeted by the Taliban when she was only 15 years old for speaking out in her native Pakistan about about the importance of educating girls. She was shot and severely wounded one day when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The vicious attack that almost killed her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. Malala miraculously survived and went on to win the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Now living with her family in England, she remains a leading activist for girls’ education around the world. He Named Me Malala, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker David Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for “Superman”), is an intimate portrait of Malala who just turned 18 in July. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young woman’s life — from her close relationship with her father, Ziauddin, who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speech at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers. I recently had a chance with three other journalists to sit down with Davis Guggenheim and talk about his remarkable documentary.
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Danny Miller: This was such a beautiful film. I’m sure it wasn’t your intention to have us leave the theater questioning what the hell we’re doing with our lives but my God — what Malala has already accomplished in her brief life — I feel like such a lazy bum!
Davis Guggenheim: (Laughs.) She makes me feel that way, too. But, of course, she’s also very inspiring.
Absolutely. Did it take a lot of time to gain the trust of Malala and her family?
A little bit at first, but then they were very open and welcoming. They were definitely more open in their house than I would ever be in mine. The only boundary Malala ever had was she told me, “You cannot follow me into the washroom!” I was like, “Don’t worry, that’s fine!”
Malala is so endearing in this film, it’s impossible not to fall in love with her and her whole family. You seemed very interested in showing that, despite her amazing accomplishments, she’s still a normal teen.
But she is in so many ways, I have two daughters myself and I was very drawn to that.
She doesn’t seem very comfortable talking about the assassination attempt against her.
Yes, when she describes what happens, it seems almost matter-of-fact. I think Americans are much more dramatic. They can spill their latte at Starbucks and talk about it with more emotion. “It ruined my whole day!” Part of the thing with Malala’s family is that they have a tremendous amount of forgiveness — and they just do not live in bitterness, I’ve never seen anything like it. On the way to the hospital, when her parents thought she was dying, Malala’s mother kept worrying about the mothers of the boys who shot her.
Wow.
I had never heard that until last week — her father told me. They are capable of true forgiveness. Malala feels like she’s been given a new life. Her mother has these birthday parties for her, Happy Third Birthday, because she’s been in recovery for three years now. You could imagine someone giving up after being shot like that but I think she’s become even more serene and focused.
Do you think Malala believes she’ll be able to go back to Pakistan at some point?
They want to go back very badly. They know that it would be very, very dangerous, but they long to go there and be back in their home. They’ve been away for three years now and they’ve had to endure a lot of criticism for not being there. It’s like they’re in this Catch-22. The fact that they don’t go home incites certain people to criticize them that they’re somehow living high on the hog in the west but the truth is they really just want to get home.
When you asked her specifically about her suffering in the film, you never really got an answer.
Yeah, she avoided the question! She’s definitely very stoic about her suffering but I know she connects very deeply to the suffering of others, especially young people. She’s happiest when she’s in places like Kenya and Jordan and the Syrian border. When she’s in this country or in England, everyone knows who she is and wants to take a picture with her but there they have no idea who she is. That’s where she wants to go, she connects to these kids who she thinks are like her. All of these Syrian girls are refugees like she is, she feels an incredible kinship.
Despite her reticence about talking about her shooting in Pakistan, what do you think it was like for her to make the documentary?
We premiered the film at Telluride. Malala didn’t go because she didn’t want to miss school but her father came and he told me that making the film was a kind of therapy for the family. You know, our culture is very different. “I had this terrible event and now I’m going to express myself and talk about it and then Ill feel better.” That’s the western narrative for how we often cope with trauma. It’s very different for Malala’s family. So I do think the act of doing interview after interview and recounting her story really was a form of therapy. They’re certainly not the kind of people who would ever just tell you about the hardships in their lives.
HE NAMED ME MALALA: Toor Pekai Yousafzai and Ziauddin Yousafzai at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, Oslo Norway. Dec 10, 2014. Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
Her mother was such an interesting character, too. The relationship between Malala and her father was so strong but her mother felt a little distant at first.
Yes, people always ask about her. The reason she’s not in the film that much is because in Pashtun culture, it’s seen as a bit immodest to be in front of the camera. She didn’t want to be on camera at all during our first year of shooting although she was very involved in all of the decisions in the household. But towards the end, she decided that she did want to be in the movie. In many ways, she had it the hardest of all, being transplanted to another country. Kids are adaptable — they go to school and make new friends and learn the language very easily. And Malala’s Dad already spoke English quite well, but it was much harder on Malala’s mother, she was very isolated. But now she’s learning English and even speaks at public events.
How did Malala’s mother feel about that beautiful animated segment in the film where we learn about her experiences as a child?
When she sells her school books for candy? To be honest, I was very worried that she might be embarrassed about that. But that’s the thing about this family — they’re not at all afraid to show their frailties. There’s something so appealing about how candid they are.
HE NAMED ME MALALA: Malala Yousafzai at the Kisaruni Girls School in Massai Mara, Kenya. May 26, 2014. Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
What do you think Malala will do in the future?
She just turned 18 this summer. She wants to go to university and then I think she will continue her mission. She feels that she represents all of these girls around the world who want to go to school. I think she’ll continue to work in this field. And I know she’d love to go back to Pakistan when she can and help to change things there.
Do you think the film will be used to help the cause of making sure girls get an education in various countries?
Yes. The first step is to get the movie out everywhere, and Fox Searchlight has been great with that, although it’s a little harder in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But after its theatrical release, the film will be broadcast on National Geographic. We want to align ourselves with groups who are doing this kind of work. I hope that after people see the movie that the experience doesn’t end there. There are many ways people can get involved. I’m actually meeting later today with a bunch of Girl Scouts which I’m excited about. That would be my dream for girls to feel like this is “their movie.”