Director

Jasmila Žbanic

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France, Norway | 2020 | 103 min | Bosnian, English, Dutch

• Producer Damir Ibrahimović, Jasmila Žbanić
• Production Company For Coop99 Filmproduktion, For Deblokada, For Digital Cube, For N279, Razor Film, Extreme Emotions, For Indie Prod, Torden Film
• Screenplay Jasmila Žbanić
• Cinematography Christine A. Maier
• Editing Jarosław Kamiński
• Sound Igor Čamo
• Cast Jasna Duricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrović, Boris Isakovic

About the Film

Directed by Bosnian filmmaker and activist Jasmila Zbanic, Quo Vadis, Aida? may well be the definitive account on film of the massacre of Srebrenica in July of 1995, in which some 8,000 died. Filmed as a breathtaking chronicle of escalating tension and events, it plunges the viewer into the raw horror of ethnic cleansing during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time as it indicts Serbian commander Ratko Mladic and his murderous soldiers for war crimes and genocide, this harrowing historical film underlines the shocking lack of responsibility on the part of the United Nations, which allowed the atrocities to happen.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Aida, a woman from Srebrenica whose husband and two grown sons are dangerously exposed to the invading Serbian army. Working as a translator for Dutch UN peacekeeping forces deployed in the region, she is privy to high-level intelligence. As Mladic’s army rolls into town behind huge armored tanks, the UN promises air strikes on the Serbs, but no one is sure they will carry through. The town’s 30,000 residents head for a vast UN hangar surrounded by fencing, but the Dutch only allow 5,000 inside before shutting the gates. Stymied by bureaucracy and political unwillingness to irritate Serbia, the UN soldiers look on as thousands are loaded onto buses for journeys that will end in rape and death.

As the situation rapidly degenerates, Aida knows she has to smuggle her sons out of the camp somehow. Serbian actress Jasna Djuricic—the star of White White World (2010)—is mesmerizing in the main role: fighting like a lioness for her cubs, she badgers, bullies and implores the people she works for to give them UN documents. As one escape route after another is closed off, the tension and anxiety mount until the film’s heartbreaking closing scene. It is almost unbelievable that, against all odds, Zbanic suggests there is hope for the future.

Deborah Young