REVIEW: ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab Is a Sublimely Devastating Masterpiece

Hind Rami Iyad Rajab is the five-year-old girl whose cries echoed across the world. Israel’s genocide of Palestinian children has killed over 20,000 of them in a two-year period, and Hind and her family’s singular tragedy embodies the sheer barbarity of the horrors. How could The Voice of Hind Rajab convey such overwhelming grief and despair in 90 minutes?

Writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania, along with her remarkable cast playing the Palestinian Red Crescent workers who tried to save Hind, achieves this with incredible care. With superb poignancy, the film never exploits; instead, it honors Hind and her family by immortalizing her story and name. 

Nadim Cheikhrouha, Odessa Rae, James Wilson, Mime Films, Tanit Films, Film4, MBC Studios, Watermelon Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, and Sunnyland Film produced The Voice of Hind Rajab, with powerhouses Michael Moore, Spike Lee, Jon Kilik, Alfonso Cuarón, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Jonathan Glazer joining as executive producers. The film also has the blessing and endorsement of Hind’s mother, Wissam Rajab.

The Voice of Hind Rajab demands our attention and despair. 

We live in cruel systems where those in power prefer you to look at human death and carnage as statistics. Where you can put the news, as horrible as it is, regularly to rest at the end of your day and be forgotten. Ultimately, they would rather you not look. The Voice of Hind Rajab, through the lens of unflinching devastation, thankfully forces you to look. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab isn’t a visually violent film, but the genocidal violence inflicted on Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, is a specter over the characters and their setting. Through the lens of the Palestinian Red Crescent workers in the West Bank, coordinating ambulance services in Gaza under the relentless bombardment of the IDF, the weight of the daily trauma Israel inflicts on them is evident through their lived experiences, reactions, and inevitable breakdowns dealing with the unimaginable horrors of the genocide.

Motaz Malhees as Omar and Saja Kilani as Rana are the standouts of the team, directly engaging with Hind and doing their best to desperately keep her calm in the most horrific situation. Their despair is our despair as we hope against hope that they’ll somehow succeed, despite knowing the real-world story and how it ends. Ben Hania, in portraying their forlorn attempts to save this little girl’s life, gives a testament to the Palestinian will that perseveres through all the supposed odds, even when success looks impossible. 

Kaouther Ben Hania allows the performers and real-life events to anchor the story. 

Amer Hlehel, as office head, Mahdi, is intentionally frustrating in his laying out of the realities facing his office. They can’t send paramedics immediately out to anyone in Gaza, due to them being potentially or likely bombed by the very same Israeli aircraft.

The contradictions of their situation become increasingly heavy for Mahdi, who, too, starts to break down after struggling so hard to keep it together. As the office counselor, Nisreen is characteristically serene as long as she can be, until she, too, must speak with little Hind. We see at least the hint of her breaking down as well when facing this inconceivable horror. 

Ben Hania trusts her performers in the best way to carry the story, letting their rage, grief, despair, agitation, and mania in the face of reckless genocidal hate and the frustration of their seemingly meager response to it. It’s so much to encompass within its runtime, but through its tight focus and dedicated performers, The Voice of Hind Rajab does so with sublime grace. 

There’s never a moment when we don’t feel Hind Rajab’s presence. 

Ben Hania uses Hind’s real-life calls to the Red Crescent as the film’s anchor, making her presence all the more felt. There’s no need to physically show the horror she endured; the screams and cries of this little girl more than suffice in getting the message across. It’s not exploitative, but sincere and careful in its depiction. The film ensures that her story is immortalized for all to experience, especially those who would prefer to look away but increasingly have no excuse. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab is a sublimely devastating masterpiece. Some have argued that it’s “too soon” to present her story and that it could be seen as exploitative. The truth is, it’s not soon enough to have her story presented to the world, boldly and delicately.

Through this documentary-drama, Ben Hania and her cast honor Hind’s legacy, a legacy she, nor any child, should never have had. If you’ve turned away from the genocide in Gaza over the past few years, this film will force you to look and understand. You’ll be devastated, but you’ll also be thankful that it forced you to keep your eyes open. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab is now playing in select theaters nationwide.