A five-year-old's heartbreaking story

  

  Whatever you think about what has happened and is happening in Gaza, you'd do well to consider The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's dramatic reenactment of the true story of a five-year-old girl who was trapped in a car in the midst of fighting.

  Hind Rajab and members of her family -- an aunt, uncle, and cousins -- had been trying to escape Gaza City when their vehicle was hit by tank shells during operations that took place in January of 2024. 

    For much of her ordeal, Hind -- surrounded by a total of six already dead relatives -- was on the phone with volunteers at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the organization that aids people in need of emergency medical services and other forms of assistance. 

  Hania wisely focuses on the call center where volunteers, often frustrated and angry, try to reassure Hind. The film makes no attempt to reconstruct what happened in the car, relying on the often plaintive voice of a frightened five-year-old to convey the emotional impact of what's happening.

  The complexity of organizing a rescue was no simple task. Red Crescent workers had to consider whether ambulance drivers had a reasonable chance of surviving in a war zone. An ambulance was eight minutes away from Hind, but time meant less than the battlefield obstacles the ambulance drivers would face. 

   Attendant bureaucratic issues involving the need for Israeli approval for the ambulance to enter a combat zone added another level of anxiety. Moreover, the volunteers don't always agree on the most effective way to proceed.

  Recordings of Hind's phone call were posted online almost immediately after she was stranded. Her story received considerable media attention, so it's hardly a spoiler to say that the movie reaches a heartbreaking conclusion for her and for the two paramedics who tried to save her.

  Although Hania's movie takes place in one setting, it's deftly assembled, and a strong cast recreates the intense efforts of harried volunteers who remind us that innocence, even that of a child, offers no protection from the violence of war. 

The Voice of Hind Rajab has been nominated for an Oscar in the best international feature category along with Sirat, The Secret Agent, It Was Just an Accident, and Sentimental Value.