The one thing that makes Malala Yousafzai blush in a documentary about her being released next month is when filmmaker Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") asks the now 18-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner if she would ever ask a boy for a date.
She claps a hand to her mouth and giggles, while later a camera shot of her computer shows her perusing pictures of Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi, tennis pro Roger Federer and actor Brad Pitt.
But the young Pakistani woman who on Friday opens a summit of world leaders at the United Nations otherwise comes across in "He Named Me Malala" as a formidable proponent of exactly what prompted the Taliban to try to kill her in her native Swat Valley: education for everyone, but particularly for girls.
"I am those 66 million girls who are deprived of education," she says in the film. "I'm not a lone voice, I'm many and our voices are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen -- they can change the world."
The 2012 attack on Yousafzai by a Taliban fighter who stopped her school bus and shot her left her with head injuries she was not expected to survive.
The film shows intimate details of the long process of rehabilitation after she was airlifted to England for medical care, undergoing therapy that included learning how to catch a ball again and recovering her power of speech.
She still has no hearing in her left ear and her motor control of the left side of her face is impaired, but the film shows she hasn't lost a jot of the bravery that made her a target for the Taliban.
Following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, an interviewer asks if she had spoken to Obama about her concern that drone attacks "are fuelling terrorism", to which she responds, "Yes, of course."
The film opens with a tale explaining that she is named for an Afghani heroine who rallied retreating Pashtun fighters to fight against British invaders at the 1880 Battle of Maiwand, and was killed during the fighting.
Asked by Guggenheim if he knew that giving his only daughter that name would make her different from other women in Swat, her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, says: "You're right."
The film is effective at teasing out the strong bond between father and daughter, and also shows some of the difficulties the family has had adjusting to life in Britain.
Malala says she would give anything to see her home in Swat again, despite Taliban vows to kill her if she returns.
"When I think of home I miss the dirty streets, I miss the river, I miss my friends. I just want to see that house just once," she says.
But for all that her life has been turned upside down, when asked if she has ever been angry about what happened, she says: "Never."
The film is released in the United States on Oct 2.
Reuters
Sat Sep 26 2015
Malala attends the premiere of "He Named Me Malala" at The Ziegfeld Theatre on Sept 24, 2015, in New York. - Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Golongan belia pemacu penting bentuk masa depan industri pembuatan Malaysia - FMM
Pemimpin perniagaan dan usahawan daripada golongan belia merupakan pemacu penting yang akan membentuk masa depan industri pembuatan Malaysia, kata Presiden Persekutuan Pekilang-Pekilang Malaysia.
AWANI Tonight: 16 July 2024
#AWANITonight with @Hafiz_Marzukhi
1. Govt mulls amending Penal Code to deal with cyberbullying
2. England's Southgate resigns after Euro 2024 Final defeat
#AWANIEnglish #AWANINews
1. Govt mulls amending Penal Code to deal with cyberbullying
2. England's Southgate resigns after Euro 2024 Final defeat
#AWANIEnglish #AWANINews
Empat individu termasuk pasangan pempengaruh bebas tahanan reman
Kesemua individu juga perlu hadir ke pejabat Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) sebulan sekali untuk melaporkan diri.
KPT alu-alukan syor PAC guna garis panduan pelaburan universiti awam untuk anak syarikat
KPT mengalu-alukan cadangan PAC berhubung pelaksanaan dan pemakaian Garis Panduan Pelaburan dan Pembiayaan oleh Universiti Awam 2024, kepada anak-anak syarikat di bawah seliaan kementerian itu.
SUKMA 2024: Sepak takraw wanita mungkin digugurkan
Sepak takraw wanita berpasukan berkemungkinan akan digugurkan daripada senarai acara temasya Sukan Malaysia (SUKMA) 2024 berikutan jumlah penyertaan kurang daripada jumlah minimum yang ditetapkan.
10 Berita Pilihan - (16 Julai 2024)
Antara pelbagai berita dalam dan luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Enam rakyat Vietnam ditemukan maut di sebuah hotel di Bangkok
Enam orang ditemukan maut di sebuah hotel di Bangkok, Thailand pada Selasa laporan media tempatan yang memetik polis Bangkok.
AWANI 7:45 [16/07/2024] - Suspek dibawa ke lokasi | Selamat tinggal rakyat Malaysia | Harimau Malaya hilang taring?
- Polis sahkan suspek bunuh Kartini anggota polis.
- Pan-Gon enggan dedah punca letak jawatan.
- Faisal Halim sedih mentor Pan-Gon undur diri.
- Pakai reben putih di Parlimen, tak salah.
- Pan-Gon enggan dedah punca letak jawatan.
- Faisal Halim sedih mentor Pan-Gon undur diri.
- Pakai reben putih di Parlimen, tak salah.
Isteri calon gandingan Trump letak jawatan di firma guaman
Usha Vance, isteri kepada Senator J.D. Vance yang dipilih sebagai calon gandingan bekas presiden Amerika Syarikat (AS) Donald Trump awal minggu ini, telah meletakkan jawatannya di sebuah firma guaman,
Najib fail permohonan di mahkamah rayuan cabar Titah Adendum
Berdasarkan sistem e-filing mahkamah, rayuan itu telah ditetapkan untuk pengurusan kes pada 7 Oktober ini.