The Voice of Hind Rajab

Kaouther Ben Hania’s fact-based drama follows volunteers at the Palestinian Red Crescent responding to a call by five-year-old Hind Rajab, who is stuck in a car during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Incorporating actual voice notes from the late Hind Rajab, the Tunisian-French production plays out in real time to capture the tension and trauma behind the call that shone a new light on the ground realities of post-Oct 7 Palestine.

A powerfully told tribute to Hind Rajab and the relief workers who spend sleepless nights to save Palestinian lives. When writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania and co. received the longest-ever standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, critics were quick to heap praises on The Voice of Hind Rajab while also asking questions around using the titular five-year-old’s actual voice notes in the plot. But actually sitting through the fast-paced, straight-to-action turmoil of the film for its tight 90-minute runtime, one can’t help but feel a plethora of emotions that range from teary-eyed gloom to seething rage. The Voice of Hind Rajab is, in many ways, a provocative film but one that’s told with sensitivity rather than exploitation. Ben Hania, who has dabbled in documentaries like the Oscar-nominated Four Daughters before, carefully balances the real-life tragedy at the centre of this docudrama with the pressures and fears of generations of Palestinians.

A cinematic achievement that doubles as a call to action. When the Red Crescent workers on the other end of the phone are frantically coming up with rescue plans in a warzone, the story gives them space to cry out their anger or take a smoke break to calm their nerves. As they wait for approval from the invading Israeli forces and the Europe-centric Red Cross to pass through the crossfire where Hind is stuck, the talented ensemble brings out the rescuers’ frustration at a tone-deaf system, a livestreamed genocide, and ownership of a land that has been occupied for decades now. Fronted by a terrific turn by Motaz Malheez as a furious, desperate call responder, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a film that doesn’t just justify its existence with a single harrowing tragedy but also the many microaggressions that surrounded it. Despite Ben Hania receiving permission from Hind’s mother, critics, journalists, and film school majors can debate the ethics of using the demise of a child in narrative filmmaking. But it’s hard to argue with the cast and crew’s noble intentions to ask us to confront the lived realities and horrors of a populace. A film executed with masterful editing, empathetic performances, and a direct message.