Review: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Official Synopsis: Red Crescent volunteers Omar (Motaz Malhees) and Rami (Saja Kilhani) receive an emergency call. A 6-year old girl is trapped in a car under IDF fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her.

Director Kaouther Ben Hania showed us in her Oscar nominated documentary Four Daughters that she links to blend genres and techniques together. Here, she uses the actual audio record of Hind Rajab. We never see an actress portray her. She also uses actual cell phone footage of the real volunteers at times, breaking the fourth wall and reminding her audience that this was a very real tragedy that happened. 

While this is technically a chamber piece, you never leave the Red Cross volunteer room where Rami and Omar are working like hell to get someone to her, you feel like you can easily picture what Hind is going through. The actual audio being used amplifies that. At one point, the coordinator tells Hind's uncle on the phone all the hoops he has to jump through just to get an ambulance to her, and it's infuriating. 

Everything about what happened to Hind Rajab and her family is infuriating. This should've been a turning point for the rest of the world to hold the Israeli government accountable, but it didn't. And the people of Palestine are still suffering for it.

I do think this story might have made for a better documentary than a feature, because it does feel a bit repetitive when the volunteers are having the same argument multiple times. It's bleak, there's no escaping it. RIP, Hind. 

Grade: B