DANA HAN-KLEIN: Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Talks at Google.
My name is Dana Han-Klein
and today it is my pleasure
to welcome Davis Guggenheim.
So you are here today
for "He Named Me Malala."
It was a wonderful documentary.
Can you tell us how
you got involved in it?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Well,
the producers of the movie,
Walter Parkes and
Laurie MacDonald
wanted to make a movie.
They had gotten the
life rights to her
to make a movie with an actor.
And they went and
met with her where
she lives in Birmingham,
England and they were so
blown away they thought,
who could play her.
'Cause they thought it
should be a documentary
so they brought it to me.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It's
probably a good decision.
So they brought it to you--
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Probably?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It was
an excellent decision.
So they brought it to you and--
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
You saw the movie.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I did see the
movie and it was an excellent.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
Who would play her?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: There's
no one who could play her.
Except for herself.
You know.
Which she did.
DANA HAN-KLEIN:
A non-documentary
played by Malala herself.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I see that
as a follow up, maybe?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
Yeah, that's cool.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: So were
you on board right away
or did you have to be convinced?
Or were you just like,
I'm so excited I'd
love to make this documentary?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: They called me
and I said, give me a few days.
And I just read
everything I could read,
because the story of a girl
being shot on her school bus
is this, but I wanted
more and I wanted
to know if there's
something I could add to it.
Because there's a book
about her and everything.
And I immediately fixated very
quickly on this father daughter
relationship.
Her father names her after
a girl who speaks out
and is killed for speaking out.
I felt like a epic Greek thing.
And so she's born
with this name that
has all this meaning to it.
And it made me want to know
did she become this girl just
because her father
named her this
or because of another reason.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: He sort of set
her destiny possibly for her.
That was one of the
things I noticed
is that this kind of beautiful
father daughter story.
What was it like striking
the balance between telling
his story, because it is
such an important part
of the back story of
how she came to be,
how her personality was
shaped and telling her story;
because they are so intertwined.
I think she said at one
point they're like two
extensions of the same soul.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: He says,
we're like one soul
in two different bodies.
And in fact, one
of my editor said,
we can't put that in the
movie it's too creepy.
But I said no, it's beautiful.
And I have two
daughters; this idea
of one soul in two
different bodies.
This attachment that they have
and when you see the movie
there's this
incredible attachment.
And I have these two
daughters, and they
are a complete mystery to me.
Like my son makes perfect sense.
We just look, it's like we're--
but my daughters I don't know
how to talk to them.
And I want them to
feel my love and I
want them to be anything
they want to be,
and yet I have no clue
as to how to be a father.
And so making this
movie, I found out
that I learned from
this Pakistani man,
7,000 miles away from where I
live, this Muslim man how to be
a father to my own children.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It's
interesting you bring that up
that you connect
with your son easily.
And Malala's mother is
this figure in this movie,
obviously she loves
her mother very much,
but I was almost expecting
to see more of her,
but it kind of became
clear in that she
has this very unique
connection with her father.
Was there at any
point where you're
going to try and explore
the mother's story more
or was it immediately--
DANA HAN-KLEIN:
Everybody asked about it,
because her mom is sort of
hovering in the background.
And she's traditional
Pashtun woman and sort
of being on camera
is seen as immodest.
And so it took me
a very long time
to get her to want
to be in the movie.
In fact, she didn't want
to be the movie at all.
And then at the very end, I
showed them a cut of the movie,
and the mother whispered
something to Malala in Pashtun.
And Malala says, my mother
wants to be in the movie.
So I interviewed her--
the last thing I did;
so she's in the movie.
And if you know this
family as I know them,
you realize the
mother is the source
of Malala's spiritual strength.
And Malala has this tremendous
sense of forgiveness,
and right and wrong that
she gets from her faith.
And she gets her
mission from her father,
but she gets this sort of
steely strength from her mom.
And then just last
week Tor Pekai, her mom
gave my kids these
beautiful Pashtun clothes.
And my kids from LA are like
dressing like Pashtuns now.
Very small world.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: That's awesome,
it's a cultural exchange.
Well, as you said
you obviously had
to get to know this
family to make this film.
And in a sense, because
you're making a film
it's a bit of your story, too.
What are the parts
that you think
you brought to it that helped
enhance Malala's story.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: That's
really interesting.
I made this movie
"Waiting For Superman,"
which was about the
public school system.
And in that case I
narrated that movie
and I put my opinion in it.
It was like an editorial; it
was like Davis thinks this.
And that's very different from
this movie, where I really
feel like my job in this was to
pull their story out of them.
And I said this to
them when I met them,
I was like let me help
you tell your own story.
So if you were
listening just casually,
if you would think that Malala's
narrating it, she isn't.
But she's actually talking
to me about what happened,
and in that discussion
she tells her own story.
I guess if you would
say I'm in the movie,
it's only in a choice.
The sense that I decided not to
tell this big political story,
this like the rise
of the Taliban
and that part of the world,
which is a very important thing
to explore.
But to me what was interesting
is this universal question
of what is it about a girl
growing up in this role, what
is it that makes
her feel confident,
and what would lead this
ordinary girl to make
this extraordinary choices,
brave choice to risk
her life for
something she believes
that actually turns her
into this incredible person.
I wanted to go really
deep into those choices.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I thought
one of the wonderful things
that I got of it as
an audience member was
Malala's this wonderful,
eloquent, powerful, inspiring
figure.
But there are these
wonderful little moments
where she's a teenage girl.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: She's a girl.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: And you realize
how much kind of responsibility
we've assigned to her and how
much she's taken on herself.
But then she's
giggling about boys
she likes that she doesn't
want to admit she likes.
And so for you is
that something you've
discovered getting to know
them or is that something
that you had like an
inkling of going into this
that you wanted to tell
a regular person's story.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Well, now
I know how ignorant I was.
But I guess it's
nice to go and when
you're making a documentary
to start kind of ignorant
and educate yourself by
making the movie and sort
of as your world opens.
But I really thought I knew
a lot about Muslim culture,
Muslim people and
I really didn't.
And so when I rang the
doorbell of their house
I had all these pre-
conceived notions.
And then Malala answered
the door and I went inside
and they're kind of loud
and chaotic and funny
and they're tease each other.
Malala's punching
her brothers, she's
online looking up
pictures of Brad Pitt,
and yet they're also very deep
people with a sense of purpose.
And I was like, oh
their kitchen table
and their family is
like my kitchen table.
And to see that ordinariness,
to see that she's on one hand
a girl who can go up
to President Obama
and ask him the question that
no adult would be brave enough
to ask, she asked
about why are you
sending drones into my country?
She was 17 at the time.
I would never dare
ask that question.
It's probably the most
sensitive question
of his entire presidency.
People will look back and
say, why did you do that?
She can do that very easily.
And then she can go home and
pick up her laptop and search
for pictures of Roger Federer.
It's the double
life that she has.
And it's important
to see her that way,
because if you see here as
this sort of a larger than life
icon, you forget that she's
just an ordinary girl.
And that's important,
because I really
want this more than
anything I want
young girls to love this movie.
To feel like it speaks
to them and that they
can have a hero that
they can believe in,
not just a hero that tells
them that they're fat
or they're dumb or
they're not famous enough.
And that this girl actually
is inspiring in a way that
can challenge girls
to speak out more.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I thought it
was kind of lovely seeing that
and it was also lovely
hearing her unbridled passion
for education and not just
in the context of speaking
to it like UN General Assembly.
You asked her what
her favorite book was
and it looked like you'd asked
her to make Sophie's Choice
or something like that.
She was just like, I
can't, I can't pick it.
This is a company of people
who are interested in education
and [INAUDIBLE] I
think, for us it's
something we very
much relate to.
And obviously with
"Waiting For Superman"
it's something that
you're passionate about.
What are some of
the other things
that you think we
can do in addition
to helping Malala to kind
of push education forward.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: One thing is
there's a lot of lip service
we get to education.
It's really important.
I've got three kids.
There's two messages.
One is it's really important.
And then you're with your
friends and it's like,
it's really boring
and I have to go home,
I have to do my
homework, it's a chore.
And when you see
the story you see
a girl who loves her school.
She grows up in her school.
There are other
girls in her town
that don't get to
go to school so it's
like this precious,
precious thing.
And now the Taliban
comes in and starts
blowing up schools and
starts flogging girls
for going to school.
So suddenly school is this
the most precious thing
in her life, which for all
of us in America anyway
it can be something
that we take for granted
or a means to an end, I have
to do this to get somewhere.
And the idea that these
ideas that her father was
teaching there were precious.
And to remind ourselves of
that and that it could easily
be taken away from us.
And the other thing is that
if you look at human beings
as is I do, that
every human being has
some untapped potential.
Clearly here at
Google people have
gotten to where they
are, because they've
had this potential
that they found a way
to tap that probably is so much
more potential that everyone
here can still be tapped.
But you look at people who don't
have an education as people who
have yet to tap that resource.
And if you don't, it's
a very tragic thing.
But it's also what's so hard
it's an invisible thing.
You can see refugees
without a home
and that's something you can
look at and struggle with.
But an unfulfilled potential
is hidden and invisible.
And this idea that
Malala showing us that
is what makes a
story so beautiful.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah, I don't
have a follow up to that.
I'd love to talk about
storytelling device you use.
I love the animation
in this film.
It was beautiful,
it was a great way
to kind of not fill in the gaps,
but illustrate what they were
saying in a interpretive way.
How did you decide to
use that as the vehicle?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: I try
not to make documentaries
that are good for you.
Do you want to see "The
Martian" this weekend
or do you want to see
"He Named Me Malala"?
And there is some
of that, where you
say we really should
go see this movie
and sometimes that's important.
But I want to
fight against that.
I want to tell a
really good story.
I want people to be moved.
I want people to laugh,
I want people to cry,
and at the end of it I want
it to sort of move them.
And maybe there's
a message in there,
but let's get to that later.
Maybe you think about it
on your car ride home,
but I like my movies
to be an experience.
And so I'm always
finding ways in which
to tell the story in a new way
and I came to the [INAUDIBLE]
like they're tell me the story
of these things a long time ago
and it was like, let's build an
animation company in my studio.
So my office is in Venice and
we built an animation studio.
Instead of having serious
photos of the Swat Valley now
we got these young animators
from CalArts in California
and we drew these very
beautiful, painterly, almost
storybook images of
their life in Pakistan.
And it has another
feeling to it.
And so you really feel like
you're watching a movie
and you're diving into
a world that's going
to sort of put a trance on you.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah, I
mean they were beautiful.
It was in stark contrast to
sort of the documentary footage
that I'm assuming you
guys got from the news
and the previous historical
footage of the actual kind
of conditions they were in.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: The one thing
we're fighting against here
in America and I
realized it is how
ignorant I was of this
very deep, rich culture
and this very deep,
and rich religion.
And this is a company
that's about information.
Is it the information
that most Americans
get of this part of the world
is very narrow, very negative.
And we know that, you
get images of ISIS
and horrible things and
not just horrible things,
but horrible things
for a very long time.
And things that feel like
they'll never get better.
I always think about
my own emotional state
is when I see these stories
I just want to do this,
I want to turn away.
And so I thought
my job is to just
to introduce you to this
beautiful family that
is not that.
They're funny, they're
irreverent, they're hilarious.
And the world where
they lived in Pakistan
was actually not a dangerous
place, it was paradise.
And so a part of this movie
is about paradise lost
and how the paradise
all of us live in
could easily be corrupted
in the same way their's was.
When Malala was 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
it was a beautiful
peaceful place.
And only when the
Taliban came in
did the snake come into the
garden and this precious world
that they created
was under threat.
And that's so much more
interesting than the narrative,
the sort of limited
diet of information
we get from this
part of the world.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yeah.
I think you said it beautifully.
It's one of those
things where it's
just like if that were
to happen to one of us,
like if suddenly you
couldn't go back to the place
that you were born and
couldn't be with your friends
for threat of death, I
don't think that anything we
as Americans,
westerners, whatever ever
think about crossing our minds.
And I don't think
it's necessarily
something that would have
crossed her mind until it
happened to her.
So it's just this
horrifying thing
to watch happen to someone
who's so positive and wonderful.
And who knows what would
happen if it hadn't happened.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: But if
you've heard about Malala
as a lot of us did, a girl who
got shot on her school bus,
you think, oh this is just a
scary dangerous place where
this happens all the time.
And it's just like the
streets of Chicago,
people get killed every night,
it's like it's another thing.
But no, the story
when you watch it
has so much more
dimension to it.
And it so important
for us to go deeper
than this sort of surface story.
And you know with Google,
you do the first search
in the Wikipedia page and
tells you the first two things
and that's one thing.
But when you know
how to go deeper
and you can find the richness
of a really nuance story,
that's where you
learn about the world
in a really important way.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Did you feel
a sense of responsibility
telling the story?
It's very much Malala's
story and as you've said,
a lot of us I think
were fam-- I hope
were familiar at least with
the basic details of it.
But this is sort of opening up
to this massive medium where
people are going
to see all this.
Where did you feel your role,
responsibility wise, came in?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
If you ask my wife,
she would tell you that
the most miserable,
most consistently miserable,
like from gutter despair
to pit of despair, I
was in below the pit
of despair for about six
months making this movie.
Because I knew this
was a special story
and I felt a tremendous sense of
responsibility to get it right,
because she's so special.
But the movie wasn't working.
So I would have a
cut of the movie
and I'd bring friends over
and we'd watch the movie.
And people would be scratching
their heads and I was like,
maybe this is the
movie I can't pull off.
Maybe this will suck forever.
And only over a
very long time, we
edited for 18 months,
which is a really
long-- with three editors
that I've finally figure out
how to put it together.
Because it's a very
complicated story
structure when you see it.
But yeah, because we don't
get enough information
from this part of the world,
because my daughters don't
get enough real heroes, because
her voice is so unique and so
clear, I felt a
tremendous responsibility
to get it right so
that a lot of people
would get to know the
way I got to know her.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I'm curious to
like what from your perspective
wasn't working about it?
Or do we not want to go
back to that dark place?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
Everyone who watched
it would say, this is good
intentions, not good film.
And you know when
something sucks.
So it was not good
for a long time
and sort of disjointed,
confusing, boring, full
on suck.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Thanks
for taking the time
and not abandoning it and
keeping at it, because you
know it's tough on any project.
I think, we all know here, we
want to throw it away and just
be like, of it's someone else's
problem now or I can't do it
or-- so I think good
things only come out
of that kind of struggle.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Yeah,
that struggle, that's true.
And when you get in
a bind creatively,
sometimes it's this
your way out of it
that helps you find
those interesting ideas,
like the animation
was like that.
And it's like,
well how do we tell
the story of the girl she was
named after 100 years ago.
What am I going to do?
Do reenactments with
guys with helmets,
like the spears running
after each other?
Like that's stupid.
And so why not animate it?
So why not do something
completely opposite.
Something you would never
see in a documentary.
And why not get this great
composer, Tom Newman,
who did the music
for this movie and he
did "Finding Nemo" and "Wally"
and "Shawshank Redemption."
Why not get a
proper film composer
or make it feel
like a movie you're
going to on a Saturday night.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Was there
a magic moment for you
where it came together or was
it just kind of slowly realizing
oh it doesn't sucky anymore?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Yeah, there
was one screen where you just
like the lights came
up and everyone just
didn't say anything.
And you just felt
like they had just
experienced what
I've experienced
in getting to know her.
And I think for those
of you who are watching
and you watch this film,
there is this tremendous sense
of like wonder about her
and this sense of like oh
I never knew that before.
But also this sense
of oh my gosh, what
this girl did, this unknown
girl from the middle of nowhere
took this incredibly
brave choice to speak out
for what she believed and
she helped change the world
and she captured
everyone's imagination.
The idea of if you go
through that and experience
that at the other
end the audience is
like [GASPS] and there's
no describing that.
I can only just go [GASPS].
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Yes,
it was wonderful
and there were
definitely few moments
in screening where the air just
kind of went out of the room.
In a good way, it was
just like we felt it.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: I think that's
what I'm always trying for.
There's documentary, which
this is a documentary,
but there's a documentary and
then there's an experience.
And I'm working
on the experience.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It's also
story, you're telling a story.
It happens to be
based in reality
and it happens to
be a person's story,
but it's still a story--
a beginning, middle, end.
It's a journey for us
all to Carolina go on.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: And
people overlook that.
Like storytelling is just like
storytelling, but it's-- no,
it's-- and my father
made documentaries,
who always said
movies are story,
you have to learn
how to tell a story.
It's a complete mystery.
What is a good story?
We know how to build a chair.
We know to build a table.
We know how a car works.
But how do you tell story?
And so that itself
is really delicate
and complicated and complex.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I'd
love to know what
was one of the most
rewarding parts of working
on a fllm for you.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
I've directed movies,
I've directed commercials, I've
directed a lot of television.
And all those things are
fun and sometimes inspiring,
sometimes incredible.
But the idea of making a
documentary that actually
has this larger
thing to it, there's
no better feeling in the world.
Like with "Inconvenient
Truth," the feeling like I told
the story and people are
changed after having seen it.
And people are
changing their lives
and the conversation
is moving forward.
And even "Waiting For Superman,"
where it's like people
are debating this, and
people are disagreeing
with this movie, or people
are liking this movie,
but there's no better
feeling in the world.
And introducing this girl
and her father to the world
is such a wonderful experience.
There's no better
feeling in the world.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: So what's one
of the most surprising things
you learned about Malala and her
family during this experience?
And then what's one of
the most surprising things
you learned about yourself
during the experience?
Two parter.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
The surprising thing
is it's like a grocery
list of surprising things.
Just how funny she is
and how kind she is.
I got an email from
her today saying,
the movie is coming out
today in LA and New York.
And I've made movies with famous
actors and famous politicians
and no one cares about me.
I'm just the director who
annoys them with a camera.
Malala is a very first person
of any movie I've ever made,
who she sent me--
she says, I know
this is a vulnerable
stressful day for you
and I know that the
reviews are coming out
and I just want to tell you that
I love this movie and I'm proud
of you.
An 18-year-old girl, I mean
how remarkable is that.
She's got lots of things to do.
But the fact that she just had
that kind of kindness about her
and reach across and think
about me is very lovely.
I mean just wh-- ah.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I don't think
you could ask for a better
endorsement than that.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
And she just goes,
you know you have five stars,
you have my five stars.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Done.
Sold.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: But I'm
your favorite [INAUDIBLE].
DANA HAN-KLEIN: My
last question for you
is what's a subject either
documentary or fictional
that you haven't covered
yet that you'd like to?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Well,
I feel like as a director
you have a cup that as you
tell your stories the cup
empties of this fluid
that is full or something.
And you fill that cup by living
and by reading and experiencing
things.
And so if your cup is full
you're ready to make a movie.
And when your cup is empty
you should never make a movie.
And right now my
cup is past empty,
the dashboard has been like--
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Change filter?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Mixed
metaphor, cup and dashboard.
But the idea is that like
my plan is to be a dad.
But you know there's so
many stories out there.
There's so much to tell.
There's so many things
that aggravate me and make
me feel passion.
So it could be anything.
It could be anything.
DANA HAN-KLEIN:
Well, we look forward
to seeing whatever
that may someday.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Thank you.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Hi.
I haven't seen the
movie yet, but I'm
very excited to watch it.
I'm going to pick it
over "The Martian."
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: What's that?
You're picking it
over "The Martian"?
FEMALE SPEAKER: Yeah, for sure.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: "Martian"
looks good, by the way.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Yeah,
I know, but still.
So I'm very interested
actually how
knowing and interactivity
with Malala changed you.
How she impacted you in
a way that-- especially
you mentioned your relationship
with your daughters.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Yeah.
So I figured in LA we
believe in equality,
and girls are equal to boys and
over there in Pakistan that's
a patriarchal society.
And Malala's father not only
did he say she was equal,
he believed she was
equal, and he acted on it.
And sometimes after
I would visit them
I would come to home
to my house and say,
you say your daughter's
equal but like when
you read the newspaper and you
want to share it with somebody
I do it with my son and I
looked past my daughter.
And I think in Pakistan there's
these really strong lines
of discrimination.
Girls can't go to school,
or girls can't have a name,
or girls have to
wear certain thing.
In our world there are
much more visible lines.
There are cues that
I think girls get.
They're told they're
equal, and they
believe they're equal
to a certain age,
and then there's this thing
called the Ophelia complex,
have you heard this?
Where at a certain
age, girls start
to get-- they start
to shrink and I worry
about that with my daughters.
And so I would go home after
spending time with this family
and come home and
say, I not only
have to say my daughter's
equal, but I have to believe it
and I have to act on it.
And he took the
family tree it had--
and you haven't seen the movie.
So one of the scenes is when she
was born there's a family tree
and it's the Yusufzai
clan, Pashtun clan.
And it goes back
300 years and he
unrolls it-- and meticulously
handwritten family tree.
But on the family tree
going back 300 years
there are no women.
They didn't think that
you should record a woman.
So the Yusufzai
women don't exist.
And the day after she was born
he takes a pen and draws a line
and he writes Malala.
And he says, I'm not
going to just give
lip service to this I'm going
to say it, she is, she exists.
There's a wonderful
thing when you
go to another culture
is that one culture it's
like this feedback loop.
And so I'm telling them
things about my daughters
and they're saying, oh.
But suddenly they're telling
me something and so I learned.
That's what I learned.
And I go home tonight
a different father,
because I met this
father and this daughter.
FEMALE SPEAKER: Thank you.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Thank you.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: It's interesting
to hear you say that.
I come from a family where
there's only daughters.
So my dad didn't have
a choice in terms of--
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
How many daughters?
DANA HAN-KLEIN:
There's just two of us,
but it's nice to see someone
else leading by example
and seeing somebody else who
does have a dad who's equally--
my dad's wonderful
and supportive
and he loves us for who
we are; is encouraging.
I don't ever think I
felt growing up like I
was meant to be inferior.
We're in a very western society.
I grew up in the west.
I never felt unequal.
I was encouraged to pursue
education, it's wonderful.
And so it's really
frustrating for me
to see that there's people
in the world who don't
have that same opportunity.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: But when
you went out of the home
and into college and
things like that,
did you feel cues like
that or didn't matter?
Or even in the workplace,
or even in college,
do you always feel
treated equally?
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Oh, no.
No, which is why it's
wonderful to have Malala
as a-- she's this young
kind of symbol of equality.
I think she even
says at one point
women are better than men.
But it's not about that.
It's about being given the same
opportunities and all that sort
of fair play.
But it's wonderful
to see somebody
else who had a dad who didn't
treat her any differently
or encouraged her to do that.
And it's nice to hear
you as a father saying
like I want to look
at my daughters
and look at them as-- I want to
put my money where my mouth is
and kind of treat them with
the same sort of thing.
I think that's what Malala's
asking of all of us.
She can get you to change,
just in a micro way.
Hopefully she'll make
the rest of us to.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
There's a story
that her father told me that
still in parts of Pakistan
women don't have names.
So you would go to
a doctor's office
and I would bring
my daughter and it
would be the daughter
of Davis, or my wife
would be the wife of Davis.
My mother, my mother
doesn't have a name.
It's the mother of Davis.
And so it seems
like have a name.
We have names, we name
things, no big deal.
But for them having an name
is like the first sign of--
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Personage?
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM:
Of saying you exist.
And in fact in Nazi
Germany the quickest way
to sort of destroy people was
to say, you don't have a name,
we're going to put
a number on you.
We're going to tattoo
a number on you.
You are now nameless.
And so this idea of
naming has a real sort
of strong kind of
epic thing to it.
And that's why
it's in the title.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: I think
that's an important thing.
Well, thank you so much
for joining us today.
"He Named Me Malala"
is in theatres.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: Thank you.
DANA HAN-KLEIN: Thanks.
DAVIS GUGGENHEIM: It's
a pleasure to be here.
