He Named Me Malala

The story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived a Taliban ambush to become a global activist for female education and Nobel laureate, has played out at such length in the media, this documentary profile could easily feel surplus to requirements. Thankfully, director Davis Guggenheim reveals that her story is even more extraordinary than we suspected. Capturing her at home in Birmingham with her family and on her worldwide travels, he shows Malala to be both a giggly teenager and a powerful voice for social change. Remarkably, her school-principal father named her after a historical Afghani female fighter who inspired her nation to repel British colonial invaders, and while she's inherited his liberal political ideals, on this evidence Malala's amazing courage, determination and charisma are very much her own. There's an element of nuance showing her mother a somewhat subordinate figure in the household and suggesting that Malala is slightly isolated from girls her own age. Yet the overall effect is to offer a communicative, accessible and ultimately inspiring picture of a young woman who's an unlikely icon of hope for our times.