Volunteers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society stay on the phone with a six year old girl, Hind Rajab, who gets trapped in a car in war torn Gaza after an attack by the Israel Defence Forces. She was travelling with her Uncle, Aunt and three cousins who have all been killed by tank fire. In an audacious move, writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania uses actors to play the society members but uses the actual recording of Rajab for the girl’s side of the conversation. Without that, this would have been a deeply impactful movie, but hearing the terrified girl’s voice, pleading to be rescued, makes it almost unbearably painful.
An ambulance with two crew is only eight minutes away, but they cannot just rescue her as the Society has to co-ordinate the operation. They need clearance from the Israeli army with a guarantee the medics will be given safe passage. That cannot be done directly and has to be negotiated via the Red Cross and The Ministry of Health causing a bureaucratic delay that stretches into hours, before finally the go ahead is given.
The cast, primarily Motaz Malhees and Saja Kilani who play the call handlers and their supervisors, played by Amer Hlehel and Clara Khoury all give terrifically committed performances. Their frustration gives way to desperation as time passes.
Hania uses a handheld camera to good effect and cleverly interweaves occasional actual footage of the Red Crescent personnel.
It is early in 2026 to start thinking about films of the year and there probably will be better to come, but I doubt that there will be another that will be as distressingly powerful, even if, ultimately, will not change entrenched opinions.
Rating: 9 out of 10