He Named Me Malala
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 2, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyOct 2, 2015
Davis Guggenheim’s latest documentary is a forceful and exquisitely made piece of advocacy journalism. Read full review
91
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 8, 2015
The most gratifying takeaway from He Named Me Malala is how ordinary Malala is shown to be, when she isn't lobbying the United Nations and visiting beleaguered countries. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 8, 2015
If there’s a quibble with the film, it’s that it glosses over what it’s like to grow up in the glare of worldwide celebrity. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinNov 2, 2015
A fittingly poignant treatment of an inspiring subject. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghOct 8, 2015
Though polished and image-conscious, offering too little insight into the physical and psychological trauma suffered in the bullet’s wake, the film is nevertheless moving without resorting to saccharine overtures. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRebecca KeeganOct 1, 2015
While the subject is deeply moving — and bringing tissues is recommended — Guggenheim's treatment is restrained, as he deploys inventive storytelling techniques that invite viewers inside Malala's world, to feel her joy, trauma and ultimately forgiveness. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrOct 9, 2015
We may someday look back on He Named Me Malala as a film that told us much about a future world leader — or one that told us surprisingly little. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 8, 2015
A polished piece of advocacy filmmaking, He Named Me Malala begins - and is intercut with - beautiful animated sequences featuring Malala's 19th-century namesake, Malalai of Maiwand, an Afghani Pashtun poet who inspired her countrymen to rally against an onslaught of British troops. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoOct 8, 2015
He Named Me Malala gets good marks as a laudatory piece about a genuinely valiant young woman, but it could use a modest dose of objectivity. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 6, 2015
Using animation, interviews with Malala and her equally passionate father, Ziauddin, Guggenheim tells of the girl named for a famous female Afghan poetess/warrior, raised in the Swat Valley. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartSep 30, 2015
Animated sequences give life to various voice-overs, but are never as interesting as the young woman herself. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberSep 16, 2015
He Named Me Malala retells that story in a deft and affecting way. Director Davis Guggenheim, who made the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth and the controversial Waiting for Superman, does some of his most heartfelt work in this tribute to Malala and her entire family. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 16, 2015
In the slim but powerful documentary He Named Me Malala Davis Guggenheim attempts to colour in a shy, yet deceptively stout-hearted schoolgirl and her symbiotically-close relationship with her father, indicated by the film’s title. Read full review
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