Wednesday 11 November 2015

REVIEW - HE NAMED ME MALALA (DAVIS GUGGENHEIM)


Insofar as I ought to exercise a degree of impartiality as a film reviewer, I'll never be capable of achieving full objectivity. No-one could be - we are each unique, independent entities, and though I may be impartial toward different types of films, none of these films can aspire toward total impartiality toward our unique features. I'm a 25-year-old - He Named Me Malala is not a film for me. I respect it, I admire it, I appreciate what it does aspire toward, but I did not especially care for it. It's a film for youths - real youths, before anyone remarks that I'm still in my youth too - and as such it is lucid and profound, and likely perfectly pitched toward an audience eager for education and enlightenment. It positions Malala Yousafzai as a figure of our times and for future times, and pursues a portrait-style unpacking of her personality, both of influence to and in light of her status as a world leader in the fight for equality and peace. It's well-made, evidently expensive work from accomplished filmmakers, and it's hard to fault a film so sound on its principles; the execution in He Named Me Malala is simplistic and over-emotional, and too cliched to make a connection with me. But I'm a 25-year-old, and He Named Me Malala was not made for 25-year-olds. Malala is fighting the good fight (albeit one which will hopefully be regarded as regressive sooner rather than later, given society's ever-evolving understanding of gender), and this film is inspiration for those youths who only need the impetus to join her.

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