Desert Flower

Desert Flower tells the story of Waris Dirie, a Somali girl raised among nomadic herders. Facing a forced marriage at thirteen, she runs away and makes her way to Mogadishu, where her grandmother arranges for her to travel to London as a domestic servant at the Somali embassy. Cut off from the outside world and unable to speak English, she spends years there in near-isolation until the outbreak of civil war closes the embassy and leaves her on her own in the city. A friendship with a shop assistant named Marylin gives her a place to stay, and a chance encounter with a fashion photographer opens the door to a modelling career. As an adult, Dirie becomes an outspoken campaigner against female genital mutilation and a United Nations special ambassador for the cause.

The film is a German-Austrian-British-American-French co-production directed by Sherry Hormann, and it stands as her first feature in the chronological list of her directing work. Liya Kebede plays Dirie, with Sally Hawkins as Marylin, Craig Parkinson, Meera Syal, Anthony Mackie and Juliet Stevenson among the credited cast of twenty-two.

Released in September 2009, the drama runs 127 minutes and took about 15 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from roughly 15,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 7.6 from 504 votes, indicating a generally positive audience response. A critics' rating of 6.2 from 18 reviews sits a little below those audience scores.