Fantastic!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Malala Yousafzai is a young activist for womens rights. At 15yrs old she was shot in the head by Taliban but regardless continued to spread her message worldwide as an ambassador for equality.I expected a powerful documentary telling her entire story but what I got felt very watered down. Focusing as much on her personal life and that of her father as the real matters this wasn't as gritty nor as emotional as I'd expected.For this I blame the director, I don't know what vision he had but this is less a thought provoking documentary and more a Behind The Music (1997) kind of thing.Her message is deep, it's meaningful and one that should be spread but this documentary is not the way of doing it. To me these 90 minutes were counter productive in many ways. She fights for equality but defends the religion that has prevented it and resulted in all the atrocities that have befallen her sex and resulted in her catching a bullet to the face.I do love a good documentary, this simply isn't one.The Good:Core message is greatThe Bad:Too light heartedExcessive focus on her fatherReligion is the cause of all of this so why defend it?Things I Learnt From This Documentary:If your doctrines say that you should be subserviant and you deserve all the ills that befall you from those that claim to love you, then it makes perfect sense to try and make people ignore it as opposed to leaving the religion.....

Malala, a girl who had lived in northern Pakistan, was shot in her head by Taliban for daring to suggest that girls should go to school. This may be true. But the fact is that in all over Pakistan, we still have schools, girls do go to school. People's minds are clear that education they must give to their children, to give them a hope of better future.So in the depicted story, it is just a corner plot, a way to defame Pakistan. Moreover it was said that Mullah Fazlullah was a 'Radio mullah'. I do have strong doubts about this statement. Taliban were a small group of militants. How could have they acquired the equipment to set up an FM station of their own and summon on it everyday. It takes a lot of money, access to international market and some genius mind to install it. Surely a group this conservative mind could not do this. So its easier said than done.Finally the opening quote in this film is misquoted. It was originally said by 'Tipu Sultan', a Muslim sub-continent king who said: 'It's better to live like a lion for one day, than to live like a coward for 100 years'. So a correction is required in this regard.Overall it is a misguide of quotes, facts and figures, a hype, a propaganda. Malali's family must have been paid a huge sum of money to be a part of this plot in this film. It must have been scripted by western minds to defame my country. So in real life she has played a role of traitor to her country.However, I support the cause that 'pen and book are the strong weapons'. But don't forget that today's strong weapon is MEDIA. And through this film it has tried to change the perspective of a common western person that Pakistan is full of militants of this kind, and girls are shot like Malala. But its surely not true.

I love empires. Empires are great. You know what I love most about empires? They all start and end the same way yet each one believes it will last forever.I was reminded of this historical cycle while watching He Named Me Malala. Davis Guggenheim brings the most famous victim of Taliban violence to the Western masses, Malala Yousafzai, to tell her story. How could one not be inspired by the testimony of the schoolgirl who stood up to the local barbarians, nearly at the cost of her life, just so she could receive an academic education? Well... Quite easily watching this documentary. The typical liberal portrayal effectively canonized this teenager into Saint Malala of Swat. Every shot, every sound-bite, every third party testimony aggrandized this girl into a product to be worshipped by those that hold Western values to be the highest ideal. Yet, despite the best attempts to edit out the facts, Miss Yousafzai has been effectively groomed by US and European media to be their Aunt Sally against fundamentalist Islam. It almost beggars belief therefore that the UK made itself out to be the Knight in Shining Armour riding to this child's rescue when that is the least it owed to what was basically one of their own operatives.The lack of Miss Yousafzai's other previously expressed opinions particularly on Western decadence and the lack of statistics regarding how many girls she's actually inspired was telling. Clips of her father trotting out the tired old fallacy "No true Scotsman" about Islam revealed something as well. The part of the film that focused on his stammer slid firmly into Drop The Dead Donkey territory.What the West fails to appreciate is that today's barbarians are tomorrow's civilisation and today's civilisation is tomorrow's barbarians. Study history and you'll find most great empires started off as violent men using war and doctrine to acquire land and women. Very few ideological women get remembered despite their undoubted bravery because of this cycle. Liberal propaganda like this film is unlikely to be even a footnote when we finally fall.To that end Miss Yousafzai may wish to "live one day as a lion" but she should not expect her manipulative handlers to let her roar forever. We don't have a great track record of keeping the poachers away.

Pakistan is not what it pictures. Pakistan is homeland to 160 million people. With one of the biggest telecom sector in the world. Over 40 million smart-phone users predicted by end of 2015. Men and women so commonly get education here like myself, a middle class Computer Science student from local university from where Microsoft hires every year. Much, much more female students becoming medical doctor than males. Almost all my middle class, lower middle class friends(Women and Men) go to college/universities. We have business, industry, universities, advanced army with tools to fight foreign funded few Taliban working for dollar and using religion falsely.We are a nation of much potential and love. Film does no justice by giving false picture and hiding facts. Every country has some issues, doesn't mean that it is all about that. World needs to understand the true issues only then we can move to the solution.