In 2012, Malala Yousafzai boarded her school bus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. The bus would eventually be stopped and a Talaban gunman would ask for her by name, after which he would fire three shots at the then 15-year-old girl. One of the bullets hit the left side of her forehead, traveled under her skin, through the length of her face, into her shoulder. Yousafzai would recover.
[amz asin=”0316322423″ size=”small”]The reason for the assassination attempt stemmed from an anonymous blog post she wrote in 2009 for the BBC, detailing her life in Pakistan under Taliban occupation, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls in the Swat Valley. But it doesn’t stop there. Following the blog post, “New York Times” journalist Adam B. Ellick and Irfan Ashraf made a documentary titled “Class Dismissed: Malala’s Story” (watch it at the bottom of this post), profiling Yousafzai and her prominence rose, she continued to speak out and the assassination attempt hasn’t stopped her fight.
Yousafzai has since won the Nobel Peace Prize and been named one of Time‘​s “100 Most Influential People In The World“. In the documentary He Named Me Malala (in theaters Oct. 2), director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shows us how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young girl’s life – from her close relationship with her father who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speeches at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers.
Watch the trailer for the movie below along with the “New York Times” documentary.
