iTunes Exclusive Episode He Named Me Malala
Rob and his co-host review director Davis Guggenheim's documentary "He Named Me Malala," which tells the story of Malala Yousafzai, a young activist shot by the Taliban for advocating educational rights for women. The film explores her recovery, her family's influence, and her journey to becoming a Nobel Peace Prize winner while balancing life as a teenage girl in England, where she lives under continued death threats.
About this episode
Key takeaways
- The documentary uses artistic chalk animation for flashbacks and focuses primarily on Malala's own interviews rather than reenactments
- Viewers get to know Malala's family, particularly her father who was a lifelong activist and her brothers, adding depth to her story
- The film balances Malala's public activism with her private life as a teenager, showing her managing homework and school alongside meeting world leaders
- Malala states she has no anger and no self-pity, which the hosts interpret as her coping mechanism to focus on change rather than her trauma
- The film is rated PG-13 due to violence depicted on the bus and Taliban rhetoric, making it suitable for high school viewing with parental permission
Q&A
Why can't Malala return to Pakistan?
She lives under death threats from the Taliban and cannot return to Pakistan under threat of death. She requires her own security team in England where she currently lives.
What is Malala's one major wish mentioned in the film?
She wants to go back home to Pakistan, but significant change in Pakistan or an extensive security team would be required for that to happen.
How old is Malala during this documentary?
She is 17 years old.
What is the film's runtime?
The documentary runs about an hour and a half.
Read Transcript
The following is a sooner orgator production. We were made to be courageous, we were made to leave the way, we could be the generation, we'd finally break the chains, we were made to be courageous, we were made to be courageous, we were making amazing happeners. the 141st one of these.
Slowly creeping towards that next milestone. My name is Rob, I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast. And uh, I'm a big fan of people that stand up for what they believe in.
If you do anything about me, you know that. But I am not alone for this particular episode joining me across the desk as the official fact checker of this show. And a man that loves documentaries just as much as I do.
You may know him is fun, don't go, but his mom and even don't for him. I'm going to calm down for it. Welcome sir.
Thank you. I love the docs. And we're going to talk about it.
Yes, we are. Whenever we do one of these, it is normally to review something and this particular episode is no exception. Today we are reviewing a documentary from a claimed documentary director, Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for the allegor, uh, global warming documentary.
I can 2006 called an inconvenient truth. But that's not what we're here. He also do waiting for Superman.
Yeah, he's done a couple. Oh, he's an amazing documentary. Also it might get loud, which is, uh, which features Bono and Jack White is four great guitars.
That's just so great. But today we're here to review his latest opus known as he named me Malala. If you remember, uh, back a few years ago, there was a young girl who stood up to the Taliban for equal educational rights for women.
And on her bus on her way to school, a member of the Taliban boarded her bus and unloaded three bullets. Uh, two of them hit friends of hers and the third one fractured her skull, uh, swelled her brain. She had to be airlifted to Britain.
She survived it. And she's here to tell the story about it. I mean, what else do you need to say about this?
Uh, one thing we need to say is, uh, first off, we got to think Ashden and Irbate Merak and Fox search like pictures for Biden's to this. They're so good to us. They're incredible people.
We love those guys. Because, uh, we just kept to them enough. This was an incredible opportunity to say so.
Absolutely. And it's an incredible opportunity for us to, to guide the empire and make direction when they're where they're trying to make their movie choices. This as, as most documentaries in this day and age, it runs about an hour and a half.
Um, we don't really need to talk about performance because it's not a performance. No, not. There is a little bit, but not, you know, because some of it has to be like the flashbacks here are told to what I call chalk animation.
It's got that real kind of abstract look. What you know, what's going on, but it's not, it's the kind of animation that's not meant to be life like. I call that artistic animation.
It really was. Yeah. Beautiful.
I got gorgeous. I absolutely go. There weren't a couple scenes where they had to do some kind of re-enactment, but it's just like the feed of the story.
It just is stock footage. Yeah. Yeah.
Or stock news footage. No, there was a couple scenes where they, they would, they re-enacted the Taliban man coming to the bus or whatever. Or they just showed it's right.
Right. Right. Right.
Right. Right. Very minimal on that.
Right. Minimal. Most of the, most of the film is actually told through my lies, uh, whether she's re-counting what actually happened to her or just live interview footage in current day, because they still are in England.
They cannot return to Pakistan under death threats. Oh, yeah. I cannot say enough good things about this film.
I can't do it. It, it is a beautiful story. One that borders on tragedy, but turns into triumph.
You get to not only know her, but you get to know her family. Oh, yeah. Her brothers.
Right. Oh, that, that, that just gives some, you know, I put in my written review at ColbassPakast.com. That's our website.
He has a comical personality, but it adds to the film. I mean, just a younger brother who could joke about it. Both of them, y'all did a brother.
She knew her father who was an activist, his whole life who really influenced Malala to to stand up for what she believes in in a trouble around the world. We've got what hasn't she done. Yeah.
And she's what 17. Yes. I mean, this, this, this young lady, she's in Parliament.
There's a scene in her room in the White House, uh, Buckham Palace meeting the Queen. And you really not only get to know her as the activist, but you get to know her as a young lady, which I don't know. You can hide.
Did a really good job with where I, one of my favorite parts of the film was where she talks about, yeah, I got to meet Vano, but I still have homework. I have to. Yeah.
You know, it's, she's got an amazing amount of charisma to her. That's not just that stern, you know, this, you know, we have to be, you know, when she's doing a public holiday and I got to stand up for, it shows her, you know, private side because there's the public side and there's a private side there. And everybody has, everybody.
And she balances that with just being a teenage girl. And that's very hard to do when you're in a spotlight that big. And she handles it with such an insane amount of grace.
And she didn't ask for it. You know, everything just kept going, you know, I mean, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, that's no secret.
You know, that is what, what do you say about that? 17 year old who won the Nobel Peace Prize? Yeah, unfortunately, if you didn't know that going into, we kind of spoiled that.
I mean, it did make national world news. There's no surprise. Everybody knew that.
But that's okay. I mean, it's, I'm not, I'm not going to add it that out for you. Yeah, you know, you're right.
But, it's, I just, there's no words for me when it comes to this film. It, as big of a fan of documentaries as I am, and I'm very critical of documentaries, too, because there are some bad documentaries out there. Oh, yeah.
This is not one of those. No, it's not. This is a film that it is PG-13, because there's some violence that's shown in it.
And it shows the bus. Yeah. Some shots of the bus and some violence that goes on there.
And some of the words that are said by the people in their homes, in their homes city, you know. Oh, yeah. I was one of the things that I talked about in my written review at www.theclubhousepodcast.com, which is our website.
They don't give the other side of the coin a ton of time, but they really don't have to. They, they probably spend a couple of three minutes at the right point in the story of people going, well, I think it's a publicity stunt. I don't think she's real.
Plus it shows a footage of back home. Yeah, that's what they talking about. Yeah, we're talking the, the site where that local leader of the Taliban came in and it comes down to preaching to the city.
That was more than three minutes. I mean, there were, I'm talking just about the way the people are back home. Yeah, I know what you're talking about, too.
That's kind of two separate things. But yeah, I mean, some of the stuff that was spoke about from the leader saying how people should be treated to the masses and that kind of thing, the propaganda messages and everything. One thing I loved about the stock and memory is how it went back and forth.
It wasn't a timeline consistent document. It wasn't linear. There's what I call a pre and post assassination attempt in her life.
And that's hard to do when you tried to, well, she was, you know, speaking up before this assassination attempt. But the way they do it, it all works out well. It doesn't have to be linear.
And I like how they went back and forth exactly there to there to there. The only thing I wish more is they'd show more of the scenes of like when she met the queen. It was only about three seconds.
Well, Carla, but what you've got to understand is most of the time when you meet the queen, it's very fast. I know, but so I that could be all there was to it where they just met and shook hands. Well, you know, she had the book, she had it, but it didn't show all that.
I think there should have been more like the scene with Bono. There's only three seconds of Bono. The parliament thing where they'll stand up and clapping.
I was only about five seconds. There should have been, I thought a little bit more. I can see how you'd say that.
I don't know that it took away from mine to the film at all. I mean, it was one of the interests me to see more of just her scene to queen, because or the parliament or at the White House, because those are huge events, you know. Right.
But for me, it was more of, hey, this happened. And that could have been artistic choice, but not only by Google, but by her as well. She's been like, yeah, let's just show this real quick, because I don't need, I mean, people know that happened.
They don't have to know the whole thing. And so that's kind of how the framework that I put it in. But I thought the story moved back and forth well without trying to confuse the audience, which I thought was great.
I liked how they really kind of saved the darkest parts of it for later in the film. So you, so you didn't have to deal with all of that up front. It was like you've got to know her first, and then you've got to know the tragedy, which actually to me made it more impactful.
And her family. Oh, I've been still as she's today. There's issues with her mother, who, who you could tell.
She is home soon. Yeah. And she's also adjusting to an entirety.
Yes, she's still learning English. And it's very tough on her. You could tell that.
One thing I loved is you really got to know her. I mean, in depth, and you went think a lot of the stuff. It's like, you think she's a whiz.
And to some people in the world, she's a genius. But then she's coming to real education versus what's in a little hut in Africa. She is having troubles with school, but she puts her heart into it.
Oh, yeah. You could tell. And nothing I loved about this thing is she really got to know her on the sense of she says she has no anger.
She has no sympathy for herself. And, which, you know, I put my written views at the clubhousepodcast.com. That's our website.
I put, you know, my sociology degree. I do have a bachelor's in it. And I think that's her way of coping of just trying to change things now and work at this work.
It keeps your mind off what happened to her and it's her way of dealing with it. Which is fine. Don't get me wrong on that.
But I really, it surprised me that she, I have no anger. I have no sympathy. And that's her process, incredible on that mindset.
Which I cannot believe on that. I mean, I don't know what else we can say about this film that we haven't said. I mean, this isn't going to be a real long attitude.
It's exclusive because I mean, what else do you need to say? It's shot beautifully. It's a beautiful story.
It's inspiring. I think you could edit a little bit out of this and show this in schools. Oh, yeah.
You know, you could edit a little bit out of this and show this on places like PBS. I mean, and I think you'd lose maybe what five minutes. Oh, yeah, to make it to make it TV worthy.
I mean, it's PG 13. If you're a high school teacher, would you have problem shown as just as it is to a class? I think I would have to get some things signed by parents because they're younger.
You have to see them and they show the bus and they have, you know, you have to get signed off on that. Okay. What I really also liked is they also didn't make her religion the focus of.
Oh, yeah. It was about her. You know, I have one of the things I like to say is I may not agree with your ideology, but I agree with your ideals.
And I agree with her ideals. Like she's she's just wants equal rights for everyone. And to be that strong of a young lady at her age is amazingly inspiring.
And I think everybody can get a lot out of this. Now, would you put her in a realm of Martin Luther King Jr. in Gandhi?
Not yet. Because of the piece. Well, she, she does peaceful progression is a way to do it.
I've trying to get changed in its own environment. But it works. Right.
Through words, but she's also not doing marches or hunger strikes. This is just something that happened to her that she's using to to speak to people and to to share her story. Now, I'm sure she will be her activism.
Well, as she gets older, will become a lot more the focus of her life. But right now, the focus of her life is doing her speeches and being a 17-year-old girl. Which is tough.
You know, and you've talked about her dating and how, you know, the issues of other friends at school. They all have boyfriends, but she doesn't. But you say some of them have boyfriend, some of them have had boyfriends.
gotten rid of those boyfriends and have new boyfriends. Yeah, exactly. You know, but I just, I thought this was so well done.
I'm just going to say it. If this is not in in the best documentary, long-form Oscar shortlist, there's something wrong. Because this is gorgeous on all levels.
Do you think, so you just say, and it deserves an Oscar nod next year? Absolutely. Yeah.
And I don't like to say that this early in the season. If this is not on that shortlist, there's something wrong. Yeah.
So you totally worthy of an Oscar nod. Absolutely. One thing I want to bring up about her was how she bad.
There's one thing that she wants. And that's just to go back home once. You know, unfortunately, it's going to take a lot of change in Pakistan for that to happen.
Yeah. Or she needs one heck of a security team. Yeah.
You know, yeah. I mean, she gets, she's still getting death threats. Yep.
Oh, yeah. She, the Taliban has said, if you set foot on Pakistani soil, we will kill you. Yeah.
I mean, there's boundaries on every, and how she had to just her life to deal with that. You know, it's not the same routine every day. And she's, and she's got her own security team still to this day in England.
Of course. You know, so let's go ahead and get to the final analysis. Okay.
The way we do the final analysis on this show. We don't give you stars. We don't give you grades.
We don't give you rankings from one to ten. We don't give you thumbs-up thumbs down. Our empire, which is who we are first officially officially officially officially referred to our audience as is better than that.
Yes, they are. So here's the deal. Two questions.
Question number one is would you see this again? If the answer is no, we're done here. If the answer is yes, it becomes how far are you willing to go full price evening show.
Twilight, Matt Nay, early morning weekend, or would you wait until maybe second run at a dollar theater? Even though I don't know if this would show with the dollar theater, but you never know. Would you go out of your way to go to Red Box to run it?
Would you stream it on Netflix? Would you wait for it on a cable? Done.
Would you see this film again? Oh, definitely. How far are you going to go?
I would say, I put in the written review of, I put a Matt Nay, but I'd say Matt Nay Twilight some more within there. Okay. And I just like, because like I said, there's a ship that's a little bit cut out and I'd like to see more of the scenes with, you know, when she really hit the big time and some of those very interesting moments.
That's the only, I'd reason I can't get with the full cover, but very good. Don't get me wrong. I recommend this beyond belief.
I would definitely see this again. And if you haven't read my written review at www.theclubhousepodcast.com, which is our website, then you're going to hear me say something that you not heard me say yet. I have a new favorite film of the year.
Really. This is my favorite movie of the year right now. And it's going to take something pretty solid to knock this out of the top spot, come December.
This movie hit me on so many levels. Emotionally appreciating the art of it, the store, everything. So I'd be that that one of your saying was the best animation film we saw earlier this year that never made nameless.
Yeah, beat that one out really. This is this right now as of the recording of this iTunes exclusive. On October 8th, this is my favorite film of the year.
This is a film I think every man woman in child needs to see. It is a beautiful story of perseverance and just selfishness and selflessness and selflessness. I think it's the word we're looking for.
And just a story of believing in something and taking a stand that you don't have to accept what people think is the norm. And something something she wanted to do with throwing into her. But on that note, again, we have to think Ashden, everybody at Merock and everybody at Fox Church Light for Venice to this thing.
Thank you guys so much. We got so much out of this and we cannot thank you enough for this. Anything else?
Let's do the plugs. Well, let's do the plugs. Right about now.
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You can email me if you'd like. If you want to ask me questions, comments, concerns, somebody go pound sand. I am Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com.
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Yes, it is. Our normal happy birthday Chad. Absolutely.
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Clubhouse is closed.