Desert Flower

Unfortunately, it is not so easy to find a movie that has a deep sense. Most of the new movies are rather shallow, and it is a great luck if they have at least some strong points, for example, a funny plot or exciting visual effects. Watching a movie requires time: in general, from one to three hours. People should not spend their time in vain because nowadays the world requires from people to be effective, that is, they should keep developing all the time. Desert Flower (2009) is the motion picture that is worth watching because it raises significant issues, teaches people how to achieve something without any possible way to do it, and makes them think about the deepest problems of the contemporary world.

The plot of this motion picture is based on the real story, which makes it even more heart-piercing. The main character is a girl who lives in one of the African countries and one day she escapes from her husband-to-be. In her native country, arranged marriages still exist. Being only twelve years old, she leaves her family right before the marriage. Her husband-to-be is rather old and by the standards of the family that lives in a desert, he is considered rich. For people in developed countries, it would seem rather cruel to make a little daughter marry an old man, but it is not the most awful thing in this girl’s life. In Somalia, many people still practice genital mutilation, and the girl becomes a victim of this inhumane process at a very young age. Moreover, her own mother takes her to a so-called doctor, it would be more right to call her a hoodoo woman, and she does the operation in a desert, without any medicine or clean medical appliances. The main character is rather lucky because most of the girls do not survive after such medical intervention. With the help of more distant representatives of her family, the girl goes to London where nobody cares about her and nobody needs her. After facing many difficulties, the girl becomes a famous model who one day finds courage and gives an interview about the events that have happened to her. With the help of this interview, she draws attention of the public towards the existence of genital mutilation.

First of all, this movie is valuable because it reveals the awfulness of destinies of many women throughout the world. According to London (2013), “Worldwide, more than three million women have been subjected to FGM, many of whom come from East African countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia”. It is clear that in these countries, people practice genital mutilation because of their religion and beliefs; therefore, the public thought that these countries would deal with it if they wished to and decided not to interfere into their matters. Nevertheless, it took one single interview with the participation of an extremely famous individual to change the opinion of the society. It means that the society does require the improvement and reconsideration of the values. Otherwise, it turns out that when millions of women suffer elsewhere – it is fine; if they are not able to shout about their problem – then they do not need help; if a respectful woman who lives in London gives one interview – it suddenly becomes a huge problem of a global scale. On the one hand, maybe, it is wrong to blame the contemporary society because the number of various problems is huge. These problems exist in each country – less in ones, more in others, and all should find resources and draw attention to deal with them.

This motion picture is also worthwhile because it depicts the true courage. The main character is very brave because of several reasons. Firstly, she bids defiance to her whole family. When she understands that she cannot marry the old man, she goes away, but she goes away to a desert. Basically, there is no place to run because there is no transport and, therefore, no way to get to her other relatives. The despair encourages her to make a life-threatening journey through the desert, on foot, and without any water, not to mention food. Taking into account that she is used to difficult life conditions and that she is a fighter, she manages to survive and finds her relatives. The traditions in Somalia are severe and by choosing this path the girl realizes that she might not see her mother again in the future because her deed is unforgiveable. For her family, it is a huge disgrace that the daughter refuses to marry the man that the father proposes. Another brave deed is her moving to London. After living in a desert, London, one of the biggest cities in the world, is scaring and not understandable. Besides not knowing the city, she does not know the language. And yet, she is brave enough to stay even when her relatives move back to Somalia. When a famous photographer offers her work, she finds courage in herself to accept this offer, even though in her country it would be considered as something vulgar. Although she is shy, she reveals her painful secret at first to her best friend, then to doctors, and in some time – to the whole world. Finally, she is brave to leave the successful career and help other people, “Ms. Dirie quit a life that brought fame and wealth, became a United Nations ambassador and continues as an activist to fight to end a violent ritual that has plagued the African continent” (“Movie review” 2011).

Finally, this movie is outstanding because it gives people hope. It seems like a tale because the main character starts from nothing and receives everything, but the basis of this movie is a real story. Thus, it makes people believe that nothing is impossible, but it just requires many efforts to achieve something in this life.

To conclude, Desert Flower (2009) is a movie that changes individuals’ values and beliefs. It depicts the problem that continues its existence in the twenty-first century, even though it must have ended in the Middle Ages. The movie has contributed to decreasing the spread of circumcision. It is also advisable to watch this motion picture because it contains such values as courage, fighting, and striving to survive and succeed, so it can teach people that a single individual may improve this world.

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