The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)

Direction: Kaouther Ben Hania
Country: Tunisia / France

The third feature by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (Beauty and the Dogs, 2017; The Man Who Sold His Skin, 2020) is a powerful docudrama centered on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It chillingly portrays the assassination of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who becomes trapped in a bullet-riddled car surrounded by Israeli tanks. Six members of her family died that day, as well as two paramedics who went to her rescue.

With this low-budget, oppressive, adrenaline-filled thriller, you are in for a few surprises. It is an enthralling examination and recreation of a horrific true event to which no one should remain indifferent. The concept is not new, but the horror and claustrophobia are deeply felt, with the film following stressed Red Crescent volunteers at a call center, desperately trying to save the wounded girl while navigating strict and complex protocols that, when they fail, intensify anguish, frustration, and emotional volatility.

Minimalist and focused, The Void of Hind Rajab hooks the viewer until the very last minute. We never leave the call center, we never see the victims, and yet the film sustains terrifying suspense. It is a war film without weapons and, simultaneously, a cry for peace. The real voice of young Rajab is used, amplifying tension and emotion, though some scenes feel overly staged. Ben Hania confronts us with the tragedy of war and our powerlessness in the face of such inhuman brutality.

The Man Who Sold His Skin (2021)

Direction: Kaouther Ben Hania
Country: Tunisia

For her second fictional feature film, Tunisian writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania sought inspiration in the Belgian contemporary artist Wim Delvoye's living work Tim (2006). She tells the story of Sam Ali (Yahya Mahayni), a Syrian refugee who was forced to flee his tumultuous country to Lebanon, where he was literally turned into a flesh-and-blood piece of art by the provocative Belgian artist Jeffrey Godefroi (Koen De Bouw). The latter’s concept consists in tattooing a Schengen visa on Sam’s back, which, ironically, allows him to travel to Europe, not as a human being but as a work of art. 

Unwillingly, Sam left his sweetheart, Abeer (Dea Liane), at the mercy of Ziad (Saad Lostan), a smug politician who works for the Syrian embassy in Belgium. Years later, they have a chance to meet again in Brussels.

The duality achieved between being a famished refugee and an exploitative object of art is thoughtful and works well until we reach the film's midpoint. At that stage, Hania makes this crushing love story nosedive into fabricated banality, also spoiling the potential of the romance. It really seems that the finale was cooked up under pressure after an ambitious start. 

As my interest kept declining, The Man Who Sold His Skin showed to have a lot more in mind than what it could handle. This once promising satire, made imperfect by a weak twist, misses the killing blow.