Film 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' Highlights Gaza Conflict and Humanity

Kathmandu. We know that West Asia is suffocating in gunpowder smoke even today. The front pages of almost all newspapers are covered with sensational news of attacks, threats, whims, and massacres. Sudan has been in a state of state failure since 2023. About four hundred thousand people have been killed in the violent conflict between two sides. Forty-five million people are struggling daily for the lack of minimum basic necessities.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which has been going on for four years around the Black Sea, has claimed the lives of more than three hundred thousand people due to gunpowder. The suffering of the homeless, displaced citizens, and refugees is far beyond arithmetic calculations.

There is an unprecedented uproar of airstrikes, drones, missile attacks, defense, and counter-attacks in the Gulf region, Iran, and around the Strait of Hormuz. Schools, hospitals, water supply, villages, and cities are all suffocating in the smell of gunpowder. They have been reduced to rubble on mere whims.

The brutal attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continue in both Lebanon and Palestine.

Since October 2023, 72,446 people have been killed in Gaza, an area of 365 square kilometers. Among those killed are 20,179 children, 12,500 women, and 262 journalists.

In the eastern part of Khan Yunis, 13-year-old Ali Abu Taer, who had gone to collect firewood, was seriously injured by an Israeli 'quadcopter' drone. He is seeking help for his survival from the hospital. A child is seen crying on the street carrying the body of his uncle, who was killed in an airstrike in the middle of the night in the Shanti camp in eastern Gaza.

The use of advanced weapons and AI to kill people has become common. And the world is watching this spectacle through live broadcasts.

Videos of a lone soldier being chased by drones in isolated locations are found everywhere. Scenes of soldiers collapsing while begging for their lives to AI-controlled drones are rampant on the internet. Tragedy is becoming commonplace. Massacre is 'live telecast'.

All these news and discussions are causing distress to everyone. The world is helplessly watching the tragedy with a heavy heart. The scenes of tragedy have made humanity itself weep.

If your heart is not disturbed even after seeing all this, then assume you have some problem. And that problem is not at all normal. Before planning a thorough examination, you can watch the movie 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' to check the pulse of humanity within yourself.

Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, the Palestinian film, which is only 1 hour and 21 minutes long, helps the flower of humanity within us to bloom a little.

The film has a total of four actors. All scenes are shot in only three locations. Most of the dialogues appear to be conducted over the phone.

A phone call comes to the office of the humanitarian aid organization 'Red Crescent' in Ramallah, located in the West Bank area of Palestine, which is under Israeli attack. A 6-year-old girl's voice is heard on the phone.

She is speaking from a street in Gaza. Her name is Hind Rajab. She, along with her uncle's family of six, were attacked by Israeli forces. Everyone with her was killed in the attack. But the innocent Hind Rajab does not realize that everyone is dead.

She thinks everyone is just sleeping. Hind Rajab's call causes a stir at the Red Crescent office. Their rescue team is only 8 minutes away from the scene, but they cannot go there without the permission of the Israeli soldiers.

Hind Rajab, trapped among all the people killed in the horrific shelling, continuously pleads on the phone to be saved.

The film uses Hind Rajab's actual voice. She describes the situation of shelling and attacks in a childlike manner. We can hear through her voice on the phone about the situation seen through the bullet holes in the car window where she is sitting.

Hind Rajab's message causes great anxiety in the Red Crescent office. Every effort is made. Finally, in the evening, the rescue ambulance gets permission to reach the scene. As soon as it gets permission, the ambulance, which started immediately, is also attacked by Israeli forces when it gets about 400 meters close. All rescuers are killed.

There is no option left for rescue.

Hind Rajab's voice was coming on the phone until about 7:30 PM. After that, she becomes out of contact and the movie ends.

According to the Financial Times, an independent group of researchers has found that the Israeli forces attacked and killed her, even though they knew there was a child in the car.

This film has received worldwide acclaim and praise. Last September, the 82nd Venice International Film Festival was held in Venice, Italy. 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' was also shown at the festival.

As soon as the film ended, the audience, critics, and art lovers present gave a 'standing ovation' (standing and clapping in honor of the film) for more than 23 minutes. The hall where the film was shown resonated with the slogan 'Free Free Palestine'.

It was an unprecedented event for an 81-minute film to receive more than 23 minutes of standing ovation amidst a crowd of renowned film lovers from around the world. This was the longest standing ovation to date.

The film not only takes us to Hind Rajab's anguish. It also gives a glimpse of the ongoing massacre in the war. The film also voices the helplessness of our international community, the rescuers deployed in the war, and the powerlessness of humanitarian organizations through Hind Rajab's voice.

Amidst the telephone conversation in a room at the Red Crescent office and the ensuing anxiety, we can closely experience the killings and destruction going on in Gaza. Through the behavior, state of mind, and emotions expressed through the suffering of the film's characters, we can realize that humanity is still alive in the world today.

In the eagerness shown to rescue the innocent girl, we can see the love for life surviving. In the mirror of life and the will to live, we can discern the fate of people trapped in the cage of the existing 'rules-based international order'.

Director Hania, frustrated by attempts to minimize the ongoing massacre in Palestine and present it as collateral damage of war, said, 'I think what is happening there is an extremely inhumane act. Therefore, through cinema, art, or every form of expression, we must present the anti-humanitarian actions there to the whole world. And I think we have played a small part in that.'

Certainly, in the noise of digital communication, truth, like Hind Rajab's voice, has been suffocated and killed. In such times, we must use cinema, art, or all means of expression in favor of humanity.

Such films certainly act like water in the desert to keep the human qualities within us from becoming helpless, powerless, and blunt. This film can be helpful in making the flower of humanity within us bloom.

'The Voice of Hind Rajab' is like a tender flower bloomed on the battlefield, which helps to revive the spark of sensitivity within you.