Shane Slater
During a prior awards season, celebrated Austrian auteur Michael Haneke decried cinema’s penchant for exploiting real life atrocities as fodder for entertainment. Citing Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List as an irresponsible example, he cautioned about using manipulative devices generate suspense and melodrama. Such ethical discussions will surely resurface around the release of another similarly acclaimed film in 2025, namely The Voice of Hind Rajab. Directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, this timely and thought-provoking film dramatizes the events surrounding the death of a 6-year old Palestinian girl at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces.
The Voice of Hind Rajab takes place during a single day in January 2024. It is set in the Red Crescent Society, where a team of volunteers as they field calls from afar as Germany to coordinate the dispatch of rescue personnel to emergency situations in Gaza. The day is typically stressful, but one particular phone call hits especially hard for a volunteer named Oman (Motaz Malhees), as a 6-year old reveals that she is stranded in her car alongside her murdered family. As the Red Crescent try to desperately try to save her, each passing second casts further doubt on the mission’s likelihood of success.
While we already know the unfortunate outcome, Ben Hania reaps genuine tension out of the film’s pressure cooker premise. Having demonstrated her shrewd directorial instincts in her previous docufiction hybrid Four Daughters, she continues in much of the same vein here. Adopting a lean, pared down approach, she crafts the film with utmost sensitivity.
Indeed, despite the overwrought traditions of previous single location thrillers, the filmmaking makes several smart choices. Ben Hania trades overly manipulative music for a spare, almost non-existent score, and the actors avoid histrionics for measured nuance without losing any of the passion. In this regard, the standout is Malhees as the primary point of contact for Hind Rajab. His expressive face conveys the gamut of emotions from stupefied despair to volatile rage.
Through his character’s interactions, the script also gives audiences crucial insight into the frustrating, but necessary bureaucracy needed to successfully carry out a rescue operation. As he constantly butts heads with the supervising coordinator in order receive the green light, the film enlightens us to the dangers facing not just the vulnerable citizens on the other side of the line, but also the brave volunteers who put themselves in harm’s way.
As the film’s title suggests, however, the most affecting element is the use of audio from the real phone calls from Hind Rajab. Instead of visualizing her terror through dramatization, we merely hear her heartbreaking cries for help, as she constantly remarks that she is all alone and that they are shooting. Indeed, it’s Hind Rajab’s voice and the brief footage of her mother which leave the greatest impact. As such, it leaves you questioning whether this fictional approach was justified, rather than an outright documentary. Still, there’s much to admire about his urgent, important film. And most importantly, Hind Rajab’s voice remains loud and clear in its plea for the untenable conflict in Gaza to come to an end
SCORE: ★★★
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