More earnest than agile, the whole thing smacks of heavy-handed authorial jiggering-never mind that it's based on a true story.
Desert Flower
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
United Kingdom, Germany, Austria · 2009
Rated R · 2h 0m
Director Sherry Hormann
Starring Liya Kebede, Sally Hawkins, Craig Parkinson, Meera Syal
Genre Drama
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The autobiography of a Somalian nomad who was sold in marriage at 13, who then fled from Africa to become an American supermodel and is now, at the age of 38, the UN spokeswoman against female genital mutilation.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
A lovely performance by Ethiopian supermodel-actress Liya Kebede as supermodel-activist Waris Dirie works wonders to elevate this uneven, occasionally awkward but often absorbing film.
The broad comedy clashes with the movie's final message: that 6,000 girls face genital mutilation every day.
Boxoffice Magazine by Richard Mowe
The film proves a gripping, if uneven, cinematic journey.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Desert Flower tells a rags-to-riches story, but it plays like two stories in conflict. Everything involving Waris in Africa or in London before her success feels true and heartfelt. Many later details are badly handled.
Suffers from a lack of focus and a sitcom script.
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