Desert Flower | Rotten Tomatoes

Desert Flower

R

Released Mar 18, 2011

2 hr. 4 min.

Biography

Drama

List

50%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Waris Dirie (Liya Kebede) escapes from the horrors of Somalia to work in London, where a photographer (Timothy Spall) and an agent (Juliet Stevenson) turn her into a top supermodel.

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Audience Member

Not as graphic as the book, still got me good though.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A pretty compelling movie on the subject of female genital mutilation. I had a hard time with the integration of that subject with the modeling career and fake marriage for illegal immigration purposes. She says the mutilation has been going on for 3000 years in Africa. Islam is only 1400 years old but in today's world, this mutilation practice is almost exclusively limited to Muslims but it's not even mentioned in the Koran. It's also not limited to Africa and the Middle East. There are millions of (Muslim) girls in Malaysia and Indonesia subjected to this even today.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great movie showing who women are still second class citizens and that needs to end. The right wing critics hate anything that has a feminist message so they need to just shut up!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

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Sherry Hormann

Director

Liya Kebede

Waris Dirie

Sally Hawkins

Marylin

Timothy Spall

Terry Donaldson

Juliet Stevenson

Lucinda

Craig Parkinson

Neil

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John Hartl

Seattle Times

Written and directed by German filmmaker Sherry Hormann, it works as well as it does because of the performances she's drawn from a solid cast.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 31, 2011

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

It has a compelling message and surrounds it with biopic scenes that appear to be brought in from a different kind of movie. The effect is rather unsettling.

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 31, 2011

Full Review

Rex Reed

Observer

Waris Dirie is an inspiration, inside and out, and so is this movie.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 23, 2011

Full Review

Sarah Sluis

Film Journal International

This inspiring story of a nomad-turned-model is executed in the style of a made-for-TV movie.

Aug 15, 2011

Full Review

S. Jhoanna Robledo

Common Sense Media

Mature biopic has moving drama but lacks coherence.

Rated: 2/5

Apr 11, 2011

Full Review

Marc Mohan

Oregonian

Waris' saga is one that needs to be told, but this well-meaning dramatization might have had more power if it were a documentary.

Rated: C+

Mar 31, 2011

Full Review

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Synopsis

Waris Dirie (Liya Kebede) escapes from the horrors of Somalia to work in London, where a photographer (Timothy Spall) and an agent (Juliet Stevenson) turn her into a top supermodel.

Director: Sherry Hormann
Screenwriter: Sherry Hormann
Distributor: National Geographic
Production Co: MTM West Television & Film GmbH, Desert Flower Filmproductions, BSI International Invest, Bac Films, Majestic Film, ARD Degeto Film, Dor Film Produktionsgesellschaft GmbH
Rating: R (Some Violent Content|Language|A Scene of Sexuality)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 18, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $44.3K

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