On January 29th, 2024, Hind Rajab, a six year old Gazan, called the Red Crescent to come and rescue her. She makes this call after the Apartheid Occupation Force unloads 355 bullets on a car, killing most of her family inside. The dispatcher receiving the call is Omar A. Alqam (Motaz Malhees), who calls Zaino. Zaino, an off screen character, is an ambulance worker, whose life is in constant danger trying to rescue people while hoping that the colonizers don’t kill him too. Omar’s boss Mahdi M. Aljamal (Amer Hlehel) calls Vanessa from the Red Cross at the Baptist hospital, giving her information. While all of this is happening, Rana Hassan Faqih (Saja Kilani) and later, Nisreen Jeries Qawas (Clara Khoury), take over the call with Hind, comforting her despite them being uncertain of the rescue operation’s success.

Director and screenwriter Kaouther Ben Hania condenses that three hour call in under ninety minutes in her new film. Her previous film Four Daughters is a great piece of docu-fiction, with actors and ‘real people’ on screen. This new work incorporates one important real life element – Hind’s real voice pleading for safety while tanks surround her. I’m writing this with as much respect and subjectivity but this is as raw as any film can possibly be. Any film is fiction or fictionalized material, but sometimes elements of the real world or the truth works better. Ben Hania juxtaposes Hind’s voice with close-ups of characters like Rana’s reactions to her, feeling authentic emotions in witnessing an atrocity. These close-ups on The Voice of Hind Rajab point out the immediacy in hearing a child experiencing a genocide.

There’s a simplicity to The Voice of Hind Rajab as it explains some complexities within the genocide in Gaza. The film captures a lot of conflicts, duh, but the main one is coordinating what’s otherwise a short, eight minute route. Omar wants to send the ambulance over while Mahdi is thinking about the safety of Zaino and the other paramedics. A similar conversation is happening between Hind and Rana, the latter being honest about hoping the rescue works out. Echoes of these conversations happen between this film and its viewers, many being aware of the infrastructure obstacles in Gaza. Macro structures haunt a film capturing a world where a child is learning the difficulties in keeping her alive.

The Voice of Hind Rajab reminds its viewers that Palestinians are people, especially the people working in the Red Crescent. There may probably never be a cinematic version of this story with Hind Rajab, on a street level basis. But a film about the dispatchers is close enough, showing the emotional toll of trying to help fellow Palestinians. Mahdi is in the bathroom watching a video of Gaza while Rana faints after hours of working a difficult conversation. This is a version of the moment in these dispatchers’ lives, obtained through Ben Hania’s interviews with them. These people are doing great work in helping the children who deserve better lives despite living under occupation.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is available to watch in select Canadian theatres.