Venice Film Festival: Review of The Voice of Hind Rajab

The Voice of Hind Rajab, directed by Kaouther ben Hania

Kaouther ben Hania's direction creates an authentic and exasperating tension, intense and destabilizing, as shocking as the little Hind's plea is devastating. She manages to bring out the contradictions of war and keeps the viewer glued to the screen.

The narrative shows the difficulties of negotiating with authorities to secure a safe corridor where an ambulance can transit without being shot down. It highlights the slow pace of diplomacy in reaching rescue agreements. Only eight minutes would separate the little girl from safety, but hours of negotiations will be consumed to get operators to the attack zone. It reveals the desperation of the rescuers who try to reassure the child while diplomats seek agreement, despite the persistent gunfire against the car. In the end, more than three hundred shots will be counted against the vehicle carrying Hind's family.

Set in the operations center of the Red Crescent, where emergency calls are received, The Voice of Hind Rajab is the true story of attempts made by emergency operators to save a six-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in a car attacked by the Israeli army. It was January 29, 2024, when a Red Crescent operator received a call for help. Unfortunately, he couldn't send rescuers for the young woman trapped in a vehicle, then realized that beside the woman was a child still alive, and from that moment a team of rescuers devoted themselves only to her and kept her company by phone.

It's difficult to separate the genuineness of the narrative, which allows the viewer to identify with the operators' desperation, from the human case that devastated little Hind's life. The direction lets the protagonists speak using the original audio recordings of the conversations between the rescuers and Hind, alternating them with cinematic sequences.

Kaouther ben Hania's work is an unequivocal denunciation, surpassing governments' inadequacies, going beyond geopolitical conflicts, with Hind's frail voice destabilizing Venice with a disarming power, generating anger, dismay, and raising disturbing questions about the level reached by humankind, leaving one desolate from the helplessness and contradictions.