Dallas Film Now.

Kaouther Ben Hania directs the true story of a brave little girl and the tireless emergency workers who sought her rescue. 

Instantly gripping, intensely chaotic, and deeply touching, The Voice of Hind Rajab is not an easy film to write about. 

The facts are that on January 29, 2024, volunteers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society received an emergency call about a little girl in crisis. Traveling with six other family members, the little girl was fleeing Gaza, which was under attack by the Israeli Army. 

Located some 52 miles away, the Red Crescent volunteers had already seen a steady loss of their co-workers, who kept coming under fire as they sought to rescue injured civilians. The volunteers received training to handle emergency calls, and were instructed to follow strict protocol for coordination between their volunteer workers in the office, the Red Cross, and other intermediaries, in order to find the safest route possible for their volunteers in the field: the ambulance drivers and medics. 

When the call comes in, the closest ambulance is just eight minutes away. But before an ambulance can be dispatched, the protocol must be followed that invariably takes up precious minutes and hours, during which time the emergency caller must somehow stay alive in order to make the risk of the trip worthwhile. 

Writer and director Kaouther Ben Hania crafts the story using actual audio recordings of little Hind Rajab’s voice, which is heartbreaking because we can hear her fear. The film unfolds from the perspective of the Red Crescent volunteers, who endeavor to comfort and reassure her that help is on the way, even as it becomes more readily apparent that help will be delayed, and there’s nothing they can do about it. 

It’s akin to watching a tragedy unfold on radio and television while you’re talking with the victim, compounded by the knowledge that she’s just a little girl, without food or water, surrounded by the dead bodies of family members in a little car, under attack by mighty military foes, with the imminent threat of death hanging over her like the sword of Damocles. 

Newer volunteer Omar (Motaz Malhees) takes the initial call, and is understandably unnerved and then becomes unhinged by the requirements of the protocol, which feels to him like an impossibly tight vice has been placed upon him. As Rana, a more experienced operator, Saja Kilani conveys great empathy with her kind eyes, as she too struggles to maintain composure under great stress. 

Their overseer, Nisreen (Clara Khoury), does her best to reassure and strengthen her operators; she is mindful of the need to remain calm and steady, which is no easy task when locked in a pressure cooker. Mahdi (Amer Hlehel) has the thankless job of communicating and negotiating with various outside forces; he is also the chief recipient of Omar’s righteous fury, which only increases the pressure. 

Very quickly, the reality of war comes home. This is not about who is right and who is wrong, who is justified in their actions and who is not. This is about a little girl who wants to go home, and maybe play by the sea some day. 

The film opens Friday, January 16, at Angelika Film Center in Dallas.  For more locations and showtimes, visit the official site.