Venice 2025: Dystopian Future and Gaza in Focus

Two of the films The films at this year's Venice Film Festival with the darkest messages for humanity were also the funniest. In "Bugonia" by "Poor Things" director Giorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone plays an influential CEO who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists who believe she is an alien intent on destroying Earth.

"Bugonia" is the remake an equally unusual South Korean film from 2003 ("Save the Green Planet!"): a crazy black comedy with science fiction and paranoid thriller elements. It addresses humanity's apparent inability to stop the foreseeable environmental catastrophe .

"Unfortunately, not much of the dystopia in this film is truly fictional; much of it reflects the real world," Lanthimos said in Venice. "Humanity will have to answer for its fate very soon. People must choose the right path, otherwise I don't know how much time we have left."

A touch of Hitchcock: "No Other Choice"

"No Other Choice," the new film by South Korean director Park Chan-wook ("Oldboy," "The Pickpocket"), also draws on the comedy that emerges from the grim reality of our post-industrial capitalist world.

Reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock , the satirical thriller tells the story of a hardworking family man driven to desperate measures. For 25 years, Man-su (played by Lee Byung-hun, star of "Squid Game" ) was a dedicated employee at a paper mill before ending up on the streets after a company takeover.

At risk of losing his home and his hard-won identity as a breadwinner and productive citizen, he decides he has "no choice" but to eliminate his competitors for a new job. This triggers a series of hilariously botched attempts to eliminate his competitors. Man-su may be a top worker, but he's the world's worst killer.

"We all harbor this deep fear of job insecurity," said Park Chan-wook, who spent the past 20 years creating "No Other Choice." "During those two decades, I told the story to the people around me, wherever I went, in whatever country or culture. They could all identify with it."

Fear and Dystopia on Netflix

Netflix , meanwhile, is focusing on disaster thrillers. The streaming provider set a record in Venice with three entries in the competition. In addition to the underwhelming "Jay Kelly" – starring George Clooney as a George Clooney-esque star we're supposed to pity – Netflix presented two dark dramas, "A House of Dynamite" and "Frankenstein," both characterized by fear and dystopia.

"House of Dynamite" is a real-time thriller set in the White House as a nuclear missile is launched against the United States. No one knows who is responsible. Military and civilian leaders struggle to make nearly impossible decisions about who to save and how to respond.

With this film, Kathryn Bigelow, Oscar-winning director of "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty," returns to her old form, transforming the countdown to disaster into a breathtaking spectacle full of suspense and horror.

"The film is a challenge to decide what to do with all these weapons," Bigelow said in Venice. "How can the destruction of the world be a good defensive measure?"

The other Netflix highlight is Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein," a new adaptation of the classic monster movie. Starring Oscar Isaac as Doctor Victor Frankenstein and rising star Jakob Elordi as the creature—an impressive performance that should elevate Elordi from Hollywood heartthrob to top star—the film remains true to the Victorian-gruesome roots of Mary Shelley's original novel. Yet del Toro finds a way to revitalize the oft-told story.

Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz join the cast—Waltz is superb as the sleazy arms dealer who funds Frankenstein's research. But this is, above all, Del Toro's film, which has created a visual feast. "Frankenstein" questions the pursuit of technological progress at the expense of humanity and asks whether monstrosity is defined by appearance or by actions.

In Venice, del Toro drew a direct connection between Victor Frankenstein's creation and the rise of technologies like AI . The antidote to artificial intelligence, he said, is intelligence. "I'm not afraid of AI," del Toro explained. "I'm afraid of natural stupidity, which is much more common."

A child's voice from Gaza

"Frankenstein" and "A House of Dynamite," "Bugonia" and "No Other Choice" are the favorites for the festival's main prize, the Golden Lion, which will be awarded on Saturday evening.

But the strongest film in Venice this year might be one of the smallest. "The Voice of Hind Rajab" by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania tells the true story of a six-year-old girl trapped in a car in Gaza , surrounded by the bodies of their relatives as Israeli tanks roll in.

An emergency call reached the Red Crescent volunteers: Hind stayed in contact with the staff for an hour, pleading for rescue. But the ambulance sent to her was destroyed; the two paramedics on board were killed. The incident occurred in January 2024 during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip following the attacks by the terrorist organization Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Using the original recordings of Hind's call—fragments that circulated online and were later confirmed by international media—Ben Hania lets us share in the girl's final moments.

In doing so, she breaks through the dehumanizing statistics of casualties and civilian deaths in Gaza and lets us hear the voice of a single child pleading for help. The film received a record-breaking 23-minute standing ovation in Venice.

"From a personal perspective, I just felt I had to do something to avoid being complicit," said Ben Hania. "I have no political power. I'm not an activist. All I have is this one tool I've mastered a little bit—cinema."

With "The Voice of Hind Rajab," Ben Hania delivers the most haunting film of the 2025 Venice Film Festival. It's a film that refuses to turn a blind eye to the real horrors of our world—with a child's plea that resonates long after the screen goes dark.

Adapted from English: Katharina Abel