- Date of Release: 26 November 2025
- Genre: Drama
- Language: Arabic
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Introduction
It is not often that I am numb, heartbroken, teary-eyed, furious and shivering, all at the same time after watching a film. Film criticism may appear to be a cozy job but at times, you find yourself uncannily invested in a piece of art that would later go onto haunt you for days. And The Voice Of Hind Rajab, Tunisia’s Official Submission to the Oscars of 2026, was one such film. Even though I did have a faint idea about what the film was about, the documentary style of recreating the events from 29th January 2024, a dark day that eventually saw the death of a 6 year old Palestinian girl, is worth a million nightmares (and then some more). It has been hours since I have finished watching the film, but I can’t get the image of the little girl and her deftly fearful voice out of my head. The little pleas for help have been reverberating in my ears, even as I sit to relive the entire film for the review. Jeez, some films are really beyond the reviews given how inconsequential they feel in the larger context of how the world stands today. With hatred fuelling the killing of even helpless children, it remains the complete death of humanity who has collectively reserved a plot in hell. Or are we in hell already?
Story & Screenplay
Written by Kaouther Ben Hania, The Voice Of Hind Rajab gets its sensibilities in check right at the start. It isn’t interested in dramatizing the death of a six year old, nor is it interesting in recreating the events from the little girl’s POV. It is quick to establish on how the little girl was killed, and that the drama uses her actual voice recordings during her most traumatic and final moments of her life. It remained the makers way to create only a backdrop of violence, even as you are witness to the sound bombings and gunshots during the phone call with Hind. That itself puts you in the thick of things, wherein you are forced to imagine the trauma of the members of the Red Crescent and little Hind who continues her plea for help, unsuccessfully.
<span;>The wideratio lens greets you at the start of the film in what seems like a usual day in the office for the members of the Red Crescent, an organization committed to rescuing people from war zones. You see a character playing stone, paper and scissors just before receiving an urgent call. You are deftly witness to the rising levels of tension even as a call is traced to a warzone in Gaza wherein an injured 15 year old answers the call before succumbing to her bullet wounds. Miraculously, the focus then shifts to a young little 6 year old girl who shares a chilling plea for her rescue, even as she is surrounded by corpses of people she knew and loved.
Because the lens remains a wideratio, you see a lot of action taking place in a single room with respect to each of the aide workers – Rana (Saja Kilani), Omar (Motaz Malhees), Mahdi (Amer Hlehel), and Nisreen (Clara Khoury). Each of these characters bring varied extentions of their personalities in what remains a pressure cooker situation. But at the same time, there is a sense of helpless enclosing the drama too, even as these aide workers take turns to speak to Hind. It must be noted that the ambulance service was just 8 minutes away from the spot, even as the workers are bound by red-tape and endlessly conversations over the phone to secure the appropriate permissions.
The trauma is an important cog in the drama, often connected by a phone line between Hind and the aide workers. You notice the oscillating moods of escalating tensions and calming influences that pour during various conversations and interactions that the characters share with each other. And yet, given that the violence is implied and described through the gaze of a six year old, the impact is even higher and heartbreaking. The constant pleas of help interjected between weak telephone lines does make your heart pound, even as the mood of the room switches from hope to despair and later helplessness. It must also be said that even the strongest of the aide workers were pushed on the verge of a breakdown, even whilst coordinating between the authorities, Hind, and her mother – the latter who remained rightfully agitated and desperate.
For someone like me who wasn’t familiar with the turn of events, I found myself shedding a tear on multiple occasions during the drama. It was indeed the death of humanity that I was witness to, even whilst the drama would switch frames to imply actual recordings of sessions that made it to social media, in a bid to build pressure to rescue Hind. And whilst there seemed like a glimmer of hope towards the end, the finale absolutely broke me – so much so that I may have lost a part of me forever.
If humans could go to this extent in killing a young unarmed 6 year old girl, while bombarding every form of help even after granting permissions, then they deserve to die TODAY! There is no turning back from here, even as millions of Hind may have already faced a similar fate. They ought to have been around us today, but they aren’t…and it deeply saddens me. But this remains a powerful state of cinema that roars and wishes you to look within; it is so easy to be a keyboard warrior, but the ground reality of the world is different. The world is silent even today while being witness to such unceremonious bloodshed….Until when is what I ask….
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are based on actual conversations that did transpire on the fateful day of 29th January 2024, and it automatically creates a psychological impact on the viewers. The sound design allows you to soak in the raw atmospherics of a closed room, with repeated sounds of blasts and gunshots being heard from the other side of the telephone line. It is harrowing and deeply disturbing in more ways that you can imagine. The cinematography keeps things claustrophobic while frequently switching between wide-shots to extreme-closeups, and accounting for the docudrama style in the narrative. The editing pattern is crisp while maintaining the urgency and the escalating tensions in the drama brilliantly. But all of these don’t really matter in the larger context of the drama (hence, I am using these are mere fillers in my review). Director Kaouther Ben Hania manages the sensibilities of the drama really well, given that she doesn’t wish to use violence as a medium of sensationalization. She treats the drama as a human story, and that itself reflects on the nighmarish times that we live in. The drama acts as a reflection of the society that is silent to the oppression, and never really wishes to standup and call out the oppressors. The direction continues to remain haunting in what would go down as one of the most disturbing pieces of art ever!
Performances
The performances are incredibly brilliant given the kinds of trauma that the actors may have experienced during the shoot. Clara Khoury as Nisreen exhibits a calming influence on the proceedings, while using her expressions to represent a spirit of ‘hope against hope’. Amer Hlehel as Mahdi is more practical in his approach even while fighting a common issue of red tape bureaucracy. And he adds layers of intensity to his character. Saja Kilani as Rana exhibits her softer traits beautifully, talking as gently as ever to the child while silently soaking in her trauma (until she reaches a tipping point). Motaz Malhees as Omar adds urgency to the drama with his body language, even as his expressions of trauma are pitch perfect. Desperation and hopelessness are connective tissues of every character, and all of them collectively put forth powerful performances that stay with you, long after the film has ended.
Conclusion
Tunisia’s Official Submission to the Oscars of 2026 (and in the Top 15), The Voice Of Hind Rajab has got to be one of the most disturbing films I have ever witnessed. It is cinema in its most powerful and harrowing state, something that is worth a million nightmares. The six year old Hind ought to have been alive with us today (this isn’t a spoiler), but when humans pumped in as many as 355 bullets at her car even as she mercifully called for help, you know that humanity died that day! And if the world still chooses to be silent today, you do know that humanity is still dead! The film is Highly Highly Highly Recommended!