"Information is control," American author Joan Didion wrote in one of her memoirs, The Year of Magical Thinking. She was referring to her daughter's hospitalization for pneumonia, which later developed into septic shock. Didion pored over medical journals while doctors gave her uncertain prognoses. Literature gave Didion a feeling of control in an arbitrary world.

But the Poverty Action Coalition's screening of Girl Rising last Thursday spotlights the inability of women around the world to do what Didion, as a female reader and writer, could. Girl Rising, a documentary directed by Richard E. Robbins, advocates literacy for girls so that they can overcome unforgiving circumstances. The film weaves the story of nine girls from around the world-Ethiopia, Peru, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and more-with various levels of education, but with equal devotion to it.

The girls reenact their stories, adapted from their own lives by acclaimed writers in their native country, including Edwidge Danticat, Manjushree Thapa and Maaza Mengiste. Celebrities like Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys, Anne Hathaway and Kerry Washington narrated their personal journeys. A large crowd of girls flashing statistical bulletins about education interrupted the snapshots.

The first story, set in Haiti, tugs at heartstrings the most. Wadley, a precocious girl with a puppy-like smile, watched her school literally crumble when Haiti's catastrophic earthquake hit in 2010. But education in Haiti was already suffering. The country does not have a government-funded school system, and private schools are too expensive for most families.
After the earthquake, Wadley relentlessly shows up to class-a tent with chairs in a dirt clearing-and tells her teacher, "I will come back every day until I can stay," even though her mother cannot pay the school tuition.

Ruksana, who lives on the pavement in Kolkata, India, seems ironically the most relatable to the typical school-goer in the first world. She sits in the back row of math class doodling lotuses onto graph paper. Her father, who has sacrificed everything to send Ruksana to school, takes her to an arts supply store, where he unexpectedly spends his salary on a sketchbook and colored pencils for her, so that she no longer ruins her math book. Although school may not be a priority for all the girls, even outlets like art remain a rare opportunity for self-expression.

As the film goes on, more screen time is given to the statistical bulletins than to the girls' stories. For anybody not totally invested in the cause for girl education, Girl Rising lost its gusto after about five stories. Although it would be a more effective movie if it were shorter, the film gives dimension to news stories like that of the Taliban shooting of Malala Yousufzai, who was targeted in late 2012 for attending school and blogging about it.

The gist of Girl Rising can be summarized in one of Yousufzai's comments, "This land needs us and we can only help Pakistan if we can complete our education."