SummaryWhen, at the age of 13, Waris Dirie discovers that her father has decided to marry her off as the fourth wife to a considerable older man, the young girl realizes that she has no choice but to flee. In the middle of the night, she steal s away from the desert camp of her nomadic family and makes her way through rocky Somali desert to Mogadishu, ... Read More
Directed By:Sherry Hormann
Written By:Waris Dirie, Sherry Hormann, Cathleen Miller, Wüstenblume
Desert Flower
Metascore
Mixed or Average
54
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
My Score
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
54
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
86% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Mar 31, 2011
63
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.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.9
88% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
13% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Feb 17, 2022
10
Самый объективный из объективных шедевральный шедевров в моей кроваво-бароновой жизни.
Jun 26, 2011
10
The movie is awesome. It has everything: drama, women rights and a women who fights to be diferent! The actress is doing her roll exelent. She plays Waris Dirie with a loot emotion and with her heart!
Mar 18, 2011
60
The broad comedy clashes with the movie's final message: that 6,000 girls face genital mutilation every day.
Mar 17, 2011
60
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.
Mar 15, 2011
60
Luckily, her cast makes up for the lapses, and Kebede is especially effective at showing how triumph over culturally sanctioned brutality remains a tentative prospect at best.
Mar 15, 2011
40
More earnest than agile, the whole thing smacks of heavy-handed authorial jiggering-never mind that it's based on a true story.
May 5, 2026
8
Desert Flower (2009) 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: ****/
Production Company:
- Desert Flower Filmproductions
- Majestic Filmproduktion
- MTM West Television & Film
- Dor Film Produktionsgesellschaft
- Desert Flower
- ARD Degeto Film
- Bac Films
- Backup Media
- BSI International Invest
- Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
- Mr. Brown Entertainment
- Torus GmbH
Release Date:Mar 18, 2011
Duration:2 h
Rating:R
Tagline:The extraordinary true story of the woman who crossed the desert and changed the world.
Awards
San Sebastián International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Bavarian Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Golden Rooster Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination




























