When introducing The Voice of Hind Rajab at its Chicago premiere at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, actress Clara Khoury said that writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania felt so strongly about the importance of the film after hearing about the very real story of Hind Rajab that she pushed a whole other film back so she could make this. That urgency permeates the entire eighty-nine minutes of Ben Hania’s tense and harrowing film.
The film, a mix of documentary footage and fictionalized retelling, follows a group of volunteers with Red Crescent, a Palestinian volunteer organization that coordinates emergency services to those affected by Israeli military attacks. Omar (Motaz Malhees) receives a call from a six-year-old girl named Hind Rajab, who is pleading to be rescued; she’s trapped in a car under unrelenting military fire in Gaza. Omar brings in his supervisor, Rana (Saja Kilani), to assist with the call while trying to expedite the process of getting an ambulance with Mahdi (Amer Hlehl). Mahdi insists on following the arduous procedure to guarantee safe passage, which only drags the ordeal out to aggravating degrees.
The film unfolds entirely within the offices of Red Crescent as the team tries to coordinate rescue efforts. To a haunting effect, we never see what exactly happens on the other end of the line. The desperation on screen infiltrates the theater and makes the stakes palpable. This story (and the atrocities inflicted on Palestine at large) deserves your utmost attention.
Ben Hania utilizes the actual audio of Hind Rajab’s voice on the other end of the line to chilling effect. It never feels exploitive; rather, it only amplifies the pain and injustice of the situation. The first moment her voice came through the other end of the phone, shivers ran up my spine. Hearing her describe the devastation around her broke my heart. This little girl should be playing at the beach and enjoying kindergarten, not begging for her life on the phone.
The film does a terrific job highlighting the systems that feel like they are designed to make these volunteers fail. To guarantee safe passage for the ambulance, they need to go through a middle channel that must seek approval from the military. There’s a constant back and forth and endless hoops to jump through. Even though the ambulance is eight minutes away from Hind’s location, they spend hours on the phone with her.
Each performance drips with empathy, never resorting to a vanity performance. Malhees and Kilani particularly react with the utmost humanity to Hind’s voice. Their agony resonates as they try to navigate this impossible situation of soothing Hind and organizing her rescue, all while being told to calm their reaction. Hlehl imbues complicated layers to the frustrating character of Mahdi, a man torn between wanting to organize this rescue but wanting to protect the emergency workers they are sending into the field.
“You trained for this,” Rana tells Omar towards the beginning of the film when he initially receives the call. The painful irony becomes clear as the film continues, though. There is no amount of training that could prepare anyone to adequately navigate these atrocities. None of what they are forced to engage with is normal.
In addition to the horrifying ordeal of Hind, Ben Hania illuminates the trauma of these volunteers. As the situation becomes increasingly hopeless, we watch them crack wide open, throwing all “professionalism” out the window, and break down completely. In times of crisis, it is easy to forget that the heroes in the situation are human too. Ben Hania does not forget that.
That’s what makes The Voice of Hind Rajab so powerful, so potent. Ben Hania rarely steps away from the humanity at the center of the piece. For the most part, the film is restrained and simple. Some flashier displays of filmmaking feel a bit out of place amid the narrative, but those are few and far between. Ben Hania allows the people to stand at its center and uplifts Hind’s memory high. In keeping it focused on the people, she never falls down a gimmick-laden rabbit hole. Everything feels earned, authentic, and raw, and spills over into the audience.
Ultimately, this film is a plea to stop looking the other way when it comes to the Palestinian people. It is an honest and open display of humanity while also showcasing the way the world immeasurably fails Palestinians by allowing this conflict to persist.
I am not naive enough to think that a movie will bring the violence to an end. But my hope is that it shakes people awake, that it reminds people that “never again” means never again for everyone. I wish this film didn’t have to exist in the first place, but I’m glad it will carry Hind Rajab’s voice for generations to come.
Review Courtesy of Adam Patla
Feature Image Credit to Plan B via The Hollywood Reporter