The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – Follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.

My Take – What can be said that has already not being said of the ongoing Gaza War, a genocidal event that has no end in sight, nonetheless, among the many atrocities the Israel army has been carrying out, a particular episode ended up getting stuck in the headlines for a while.

That being the true story about the horrifying ordeal faced by five-year-old Palestinian girl named Hind Rajab, who was killed in 2024 by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza in her uncle’s car along with her six family members, and the two paramedics who tried to come to her rescue. Rajab herself, who survived the original assault by the IDF which killed those around her, stayed on the phone for hours with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), desperately begging for help.

The incident, captured via voice recordings and eventually broadcast to the world, provoked mass outrage everywhere, including a fresh round of protests in Europe and the U.S., only to find itself being swallowed by the scale of violence inflicted on Gaza following October 7, 2023, a campaign that has left tens of thousands of children dead. Now, the image of human pieces being pulled out of gnarled rubble is just something we casually scroll past.

In an effort to once again reignite our outrage, for her seventh feature, Oscar-nominated Tunisian writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania (Four Daughters, The Man Who Sold His Skin) rebuilds those fatal moments by startlingly using actual phone recordings of Rajab’s heart-wrenching voice and fictionally reconstructs the drama of the emergency responders in their call-center office. And because her real voice is preserved over an hour of recordings, the emotional impact is immediate and overwhelming. Leaving us with a provocative experience that is not just compelling, fierce and urgent, but also devastatingly heart-shattering.

Backed by an executive producer team that consists of heavy-weights like Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Alfonso Cuarón, Spike Lee, and Jonathan Glazer, among others, with its unflinching approach, the film confronts us with the themes of failure and systemic responsibility, resulting in a profound, long-lasting impression and serving as a necessary call to humanity.

Sure, it can be debated that the same setup could have been presented in the form of straightforward documentary, filled with of interviews of responders and emergency workers on why they were impeded from helping Rajab and what continues to hinder them, instead of its high-concept design.

But to be critical of a film like this also defeats its purpose. As the merits of its intentions rise beyond its faults in addressing the present while also existing as an eternal time capsule documenting an ongoing war with no end in sight. Plus, in a world where filmmakers busy themselves (and us) with made-up stories about made-up people, director Ben Hania is at least grabbing one of the most relevant issues of our time.

At the end of its harrowing 89 minute run time, it should be unsurprising to know that the film received a record a 23-minute, 50-second standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere, and has been nominated in Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards.

Taking place completely on January 29, 2024, when the Israeli government ordered the evacuation of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in southern Gaza. The story follows the emergency responders at Palestine’s Red Crescent society, who despite being situated 52 miles away in Ramallah, have been overwhelmed with coordinating assistance to the wounded as they must utilize either the Red Cross or the Ministry of Health to secure safe passage for ambulances through COGAT, the Israeli military’s branch dedicated to coordinating civilian services.

Amidst this one of the responders, Omar (Motaz Malhees), receives a call from a man in Germany who claims his relatives are trapped outside of a gas station in Tel al-Hawa. But when he calls the number he ends up hearing a young woman being shot and killed on the line. And as their trained onsite therapist Nisreen (Clara Khoury) coaches Omar through their process of dealing with this experience, they learn a six-year-old girl named Hind Rajab is still alive in the car.

Becoming emotionally erratic as the minutes pass by, Omar requests the assistance of his supervisor Rana (Saja Kilani) in speaking to the little girl and keeping her engaged as their colleague Mahdi (Amer Hlehel), who is responsible for initiating the coordination rippling through layers of intermediaries to get the green light. Mainly as a mad ambulance dash through a war zone will simply result in the ambulance being hit and its occupants killed – people, he points out, with families and children.

What follows is an unfiltered immersion into the final minutes of a child’s life, and since this is based on a true story, we all know that the rescue will fail. Indeed, director Ben Hania is dealing with sensitive material here, tackling a grisly incident that shocked much of the world to its core. Yet, she doesn’t sensationalize this story, keeping the action fixed entirely in the call center itself, with actors portraying the dispatchers on the line.

At a couple of points, she even brings in real footage of these people, poignantly placing them against their onscreen counterparts. While such moments could have come off as meta-fictional indulgence, but the acclaimed filmmaker uses them judiciously, weaving them in as a way both to attest to the authenticity of her recreation but also to suggest that the scars of the day will live on for a long time, maybe forever. Ironically, Rajab went to a pre-school establishment called “A Happy Childhood”.

The film is a perfect example of the ripple effects of war are faced by those safely outside its vicinity. Like how even the most highly trained responders can be worn down dramatically after an emotionally intense situation stretching on endlessly for hours.

It also helps that performances of Motaz Malhees, Saja Kilani, Amer Hlehel and Clara Khoury are throughout exceptional. When we see the actors themselves listening to the voices of the real emergency workers, the real Rajab, the real gunshots and explosions around them, we are reminded that they, like us, are mere spectators to the real tragedy. And it’s distressing to watch this extreme duress, for their helplessness is also a reflection of us the viewers. On the whole, ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab‘ is a stark and grueling reenactment that acts as devastating testament to an ongoing tragedy.