You’ve touched on this idea of narrativizing a really infuriating, heartbreaking true story before with Beauty and the Dogs. Both that film and The Voice of Hind Rajab explore these frustrating hindrances of bureaucracy, of these systems built to complicate and obfuscate things for civilians—whether it be trying to report a violent crime or trying to save an innocent little girl.
I love [exploring] systems to understand how systems work because [the answer] is not written anywhere. But there is always a meaning, a meaning of oppression, especially. In Beauty and the Dogs, the system is written by men, by policemen, so it’s something about defending patriarchy. That’s why the system is so cruel, even if it can hide itself behind the rules and the law.
In the case of Hind Rajab, it’s the system of occupation. It’s set by design to make the life of Palestinians impossible, because the main idea is to oblige Palestinians to leave Palestine. [To tell them,] “It’s not their land. They have to immigrate elsewhere.” Since it’s a dominant system, it’s not like normal bureaucracy—it’s done by design to oppress. I’m very fascinated, as you mentioned, by the oppressive system. In these two cases, we have highly oppressive systems.
We keep talking about the hybrid narrative-documentary element of your film, but because it’s technically more narrative than traditional documentary, a wider audience might see it and the word may hopefully spread even further. Did that idea play at all into your decision to narrativize the story?
I’m a documentary filmmaker and it’s very sad to hear that, but it’s true that documentaries don’t have the reach that narrative films have. I always prefer documentaries, because, in my point of view, documentaries are films. But you are right: the fact that it’s technically—again, it’s a matter of institutional label—labeled as “narrative” will make it spread, so let it be!
This is one of the most thought-provoking films I’ve seen all year—what thoughts are you hoping that it provokes in audiences, especially for people who may have been unfamiliar with Hind’s story?
When I called Hind’s mother, she talked about justice, and we know that justice and accountability are not around the corner. I hope that this movie can help a movement of change, because we can’t live in a world where you can commit a crime and then go have a cocktail and live your life normally. It’s not a good perspective for the next generation. I hope that this movie can participate in that change. On , actually, I saw many people saying, “Oh, it’s a hard watch.” I want to tell them, “Yes, maybe it’s not a comfortable movie, but think about the people living this. You are just watching it, so do something about it.”
