Desert Flower

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Claudio C @Claudio666 May 5 The Amazing Story of a Somalian Top-Model (12,426– 05 May 2026 – Claudio Carvalho) "Desert Flower" (2009) is a film that tells the amazing story of the Somalian top-model Waris Dirie (Liya Kebede). Based on her autobiography, it shows Wary’s life since she was three in Somalia; how she was sold by her father to be the fourth wife of a man; how she fled to the Somalian Embassy in London. how she was helped by the saleswoman Marilyn (Sally Hawkins), hotel manager Pushpa Patel (Meera Syal) and janitor Neil (Craig Parkinson); how the famous photographer Terry Donaldson (Timothy Spall) found her working as cleaning lady of a fast-food and released her to the fashion world; and how BBC promoted her circumcision in Somalia. And her important speech in UN. The performances are top-notch and the screenplay is excellent, alternating the present with flashbacks of her childhood. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Flor do Deserto" ("Desert Flower") My Blog: https://maniacosporfilme.wordpress.com/ See more Sandra V @RT38056731 07/16/2025 Painful and beautiful. If you watched "Princesas", from Spain, you will find some resemblance... #drama. See more 03/28/2021 Not as graphic as the book, still got me good though. See more 05/21/2020 I remember when this movie first came out over seas. I requested it to come to the theaters in Houston, TX. My grandmother and I were the only ones in the movie theater to watch it. This movie motivates me when I'm at the verge of giving up on my dreams. See more 12/13/2019 A desert flower bloomed in the UK. "Desert Flower" is a biographical movie produced by the German Sherry Horrman. The movie is based on the autobiographical books written by Waris Dirie. It tells the story about her journey from a nomadic pastoral background in Somalia to a new life and career in the West as a fashion model and activist against female genital mutilation. A good movie, which tells an extraordinary story. The movie is based on the story of Waris Dirie, an international supermodel who was born in a nomadic tribe in Somalia. As a child, she was circumcised, as common in many African countries. Later, she got sold as a young teenager to a man who already had 3 wives. One day, she decides to leave. After walking hundreds of miles across the desert, she finally reached her destination, Mogadishu. She meets her grandmother there and she later gets hired by an aunt in London to work as a maid. After a while the young woman decides to run away what causes her to live on the streets. Luckily, she gets befriended with a shop girl who will fix her a job as a cleaning lady in a fast food restaurant. It's right there that Waris Dirie gets discovered and this moment changes her life forever. Even though I liked the movie, I still think it could've been better and more effective if presented differently. The movie was at some points too "Hollywood" for me. It focused too much on the idea of a poor girl who gets to live the "American dream" and too less on the psychological effect the different events had on the main character. I would've liked to see more depth. The movie should've also brought more attention to the fact that Waris Dirie became a human rights activist in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation. In 2002 she even founded her own organization in Vienna, the Desert Flower Foundation. It would've been nice to see the establishment of that. Despite the fact that the movie was a little "Hollywood", it did have a strong ending. At the end we see Waris Dirie giving a powerful speech about circumcision and the position of women in certain regions in Africa. She talks about how two of her sisters didn't survive it and the consequences that circumcision has on young girls for the rest of their lives. She ends her speech with the hopeful words "..but for the sake of all of us let us try and change what it means to be a woman." Circumcision on women is a topic that is often forgotten about, so it's a good thing that the movie puts this subject on the map. This practice is still done in various countries on very young girls. The parts that could allow the woman to feel sexual pleasure are being cut away and her labia is sewed shut. This way the husband could make sure he married a virgin when he cuts it open. Many girls die during or because of this barbaric mutilation. The movie makes the watcher aware of this problem. The role of Waris Dirie was played by Liya Kebede, an Ethiopian model. The choice of actress could not have been better. Besides the fact that she's beautiful, she also knows how to make the viewer know how she feels without showing a lot of expressions. "Desert flower" was a fine movie, with a well played leading part. It tells an inspiring story based on real events. Despite the fact that the movie was shallow at certain points, it is definitely still worth the watch. See more 01/29/2018 A touching story of a strong African woman fighting her way out of the fashion world. However, the movie focused more on her modeling career than her struggle with her body after being cut, making the final message less compelling and a little too sudden. Also the supporting actress role Marilyn was pretty interesting in the beginning but grew insignificant at last. See more Read all reviews

Desert Flower

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