‘Voice of Hind Rajab’ will haunt you for days on end
I can’t recall a film that stirred anger, empathy and utter helplessness quite like Kaouther Ben Hania’s emotionally devastating “The Voice of Hind Rajab.” In less than 90 minutes, it sums up the two years of genocide that have left Gaza in ruins and sent thousands of innocents to an early grave. Madness is the only way to describe it. But for any tragedy to resonate, it requires a human face. One like Hind Rajab Hamada, a modest 6-year-old girl who suffered a brutal death at the hands of heartless soldiers who had no qualms deliberately riddling her with bullets.
To hear the voice recordings of her final hours, as the volunteers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society heroically rush to rescue her, is almost unbearable. Her repeated pleas for someone, anyone, to come to her aid, drive you to tears. You can only imagine how awful it must have been for her to be left all alone, pinched between the lifeless bodies of her aunt, uncle and four cousins inside the family car with an Israeli tank staring her down.
In addition to her voice, awash in fright, you can overhear a near-constant cacophony of explosions and gunfire in the background. It’s as if Hind’s tormentors, who know she’s still alive inside the vehicle, are cruelly torturing her before delivering the inevitable killshot. At least their callousness is buying time for four members of the Red Crescent Society, who are striving to comfort Hind while hurriedly cutting through a mountain of red tape in hopes of saving her.
Like the riveting docudramas of Paul Greengrass (“United 93,” “Captain Phillips,” “The Lost Bus”), “The Voice of Hind Rajab” unfolds in something close to real time with re-enactments enhanced for dramatic effect. Except for Motaz Malhees as Omar, the most volatile and impatient of the Red Crescent operators, the cast injects enough nuance to enable you to feel like you are in the room, privy to all that unfolds that fateful January afternoon in the Ramallah call center.
It begins innocuously, with Omar and his colleagues, Rana (Saja Kilani), Mahdi (Amer Hlehel) and Nirseen (Clara Khoury), experiencing what seems like a typical day. But shortly after 2:30 p.m., Omar rushes to his desk to answer a call from a man in Germany claiming to be Hind’s uncle. He informs Omar that his niece is pinned down inside a car under heavy gunfire in a newly restricted area of northern Gaza. With the contact info in hand, Omar phones the number provided, not knowing the next two-plus hours will forever change his life.
After Hind apprises him of the situation, he turns to Mahdi, the extraction coordinator located in the glass office directly behind him, to begin the lengthy protocol to fetch the child. Unfortunately for Hind, it’s a convoluted process in which Mahdi must first contact the Red Cross, which then contacts the Israel Defense Ministry, which then reaches out to soldiers in the field who map out a safe route for the rescuers. But that’s not the end of it. Once the course is established, Mahdi must then wait for the “green light.” Even then, there are no guarantees.
It’s little wonder that Omar grows increasingly frustrated and argumentative, accusing Mahdi of being ineffectual and uncaring. Their escalating confrontations, which include Omar using a felt pen to write on Mahdi’s window (a la Jessica Chastain’s character in “Zero Dark Thirty”) the amount of time Hind has been waiting, border on melodramatic. But that’s my lone quibble with an otherwise wrenching tale of the obscenity and absurdity of war.
Most captivating are the female members of the team, particularly Kilani as Omar’s supervisor, Rana. It’s no coincidence that this angelic figure is dressed all in white and quoting the Koran while performing an increasingly difficult task of keeping Hind calm. “What school do you attend?” Rana asks while fighting tears. “A Happy Childhood,” Hind responds, without grasping the irony.
Almost predictably, Rana eventually cracks, needing to be talked off the ledge by Nisreen, the society’s resident consoler and prevailing source of tranquility. But it’s hearing Hind’s actual voice that rocks you to the core. You sense her constant terror and feelings of anxiety as the hours pass and hope wanes.
Some may quibble with the moral implications of Ben Hania’s decision to incorporate the actual call tapes in service of the narrative. But I think most will emerge from “The Voice of Hind Rajab” better informed and more involved in the politics of what’s been going on in Gaza since Hamas’ own unspeakable attacks upon innocents in Israel in October 2023. But two wrongs undoubtedly do not make a right. Especially when it’s a sweet, beautiful child like Hind. She has nothing to do with the ancient, senseless feud between Jews and Palestinians, yet finds herself unwittingly caught in the crossfire.
Yes, Ben Hania’s film, much like her Oscar-nominated “Four Daughters,” is depressing, but it’s also vital in the compassion she evokes for folks like Omar, Rana, Nisreen and Mahdi – all real people who sacrifice their time and mental well-being in the faint hope of making a difference. All I can say is, thank God they’re out there. Without them, the world would be a much worse place. They’re priceless. But what about Hind? What is her value? To the soldiers who murdered a scared, defenseless 6-year-old girl in cold blood, it was obviously worth nothing. How sad for them.
Movie review
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Rated: Not rated
Cast: Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Clara Khoury and Amer Hlehel
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Writer: Kaouther Ben Hania
Runtime: 89 minutes
Where: In theaters Dec. 17 (limited) before expanding in the coming weeks
Grade: A-
