Film Review: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Content warning: discussions of the Israel-Palestine conflict, child fatality

Deeply poignant and consciously tender, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a docudrama that details the death of five-year-old Hind Rajab Hamada from the perspective of workers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) call center. Director Kaouther Ben Hania artfully interlaces real audio recordings with brilliant reenactments of the true events that occurred as Hind was attacked by the Israeli military.

Director Kaouther Ben Hania artfully interlaces real audio recordings with brilliant reenactments of the true events that occurred as Hind was attacked by the Israeli military.

The Voice of Hind Rajab centres around the PRCS’s attempts to safely send an ambulance to Hind as she remains trapped in her family’s car, amongst the corpses of her family members, while IDF tanks wait outside. The PRCS is a humanitarian organization that coordinates with the Red Cross to send emergency medical help to Palestinian civilians. In order to do this, however, they must liaise with the Israeli military as well, and this process can take hours. The man who originally answered Hind’s call, Omar (Motaz Malhees), displays potent anger at the delays in getting an ambulance to Hind that this protocol produces. Malhees does an amazing job of conveying Omar’s rage and helplessness; a helplessness shared by call centre coordinator Mahdi (Amer Hlehel). Mahdi is restricted both by rules and by responsibility; if he doesn’t follow the slow-moving protocol exactly, he risks endangering the ambulance workers and further endangering Hind.

Both PRCS workers are in an impossible position, and the frustration that this impossibility creates is strongly felt by the audience watching the film. In addition to frustration, a sense of despair is heavily palpable through the screen. Rana (Saja Kilani), another PRCS worker, spends the majority of the film on the phone with Hind, speaking to her with gentle compassion. Rana must meet Hind’s innocent pleas for help with assurance, despite having no way of getting assistance to Hind. Kilani’s acting is intensely empathetic, and each waver of her voice perfectly illustrates her desperation.

In combining audio recordings with acting, The Voice of Hind Rajab maneouvres the space between reality and fiction with agility. The acting of those playing the PRCS workers provides a frame for Hind’s sweet voice and heartbreaking words to ground the film. Hind’s voice forces the film’s audience to confront the tragic injustice of her eventual killing.

For those not very familiar with the details of Hind Rajab’s murder, this film is particularly illuminating, yet devastating.

The Voice of Hind Rajab maintains a fast and intense pace throughout its duration. With camera work that feels raw and unfiltered, anguish permeates through every aspect of this film. Ben Hania’s plotting inspires hope just as quickly as it crushes that optimism. For those not very familiar with the details of Hind Rajab’s murder, this film is particularly illuminating, yet devastating. Near the film’s end, the call centre finally gets the necessary clearance from the Israeli military to send an ambulance to save Hind, but when it reaches just a few yards away from her, the ambulance is bombed and Hind herself is shot.

In her brutal unmasking of the events that preceded Hind’s killing on 29th January 2024, Ben Hania demonstrates the strength of PRCS workers. Despite the emotional trauma and risks of death, people like Mahdi, Omar, and Rana work tirelessly to help innocent civilians. Their perseverance, pictured in this film, is undeniably admirable and heroic.

Ultimately, The Voice of Hind Rajab is a story of love in a setting of extreme injustice. In directing this film, Ben Hania has compiled a tragically humanising story that has its audience in tears from the second it begins. Owing to its emotional depth and unflinching adherence to the truth, The Voice of Hind Rajab is the very definition of a must-see film.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is being screened at The Mockingbird Cinema in Digbeth.