Film Review: Quo Vadis, Aida?
Emma Holmes
The official start of the Bosnian War was on 6 April 1992 and the official end of the war was 14 December 1995. It included the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare, the Siege of Sarajevo, which started on 5 April 1992 and lasted until after the war on 29 February 1996. The Bosnian Serb (for more background information on tensions within Bosnia and Herzegovina please read my previous post about nationalism) soldiers, with backing by the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army AKA Serbia), stationed themselves on the mountains surrounding the valley and rained down bullets on the defenseless civilians below. Their goal was not only the death of Bosniaks and Croats, it was the complete erasure of these ethnic groups. Why else would they have burned the National Library at the very beginning of their siege, destroying countless ancient manuscripts?
Cultural destruction did not end, or even begin, with the Siege of Sarajevo. The Bosnian Serbs burned down mosques, churches, and other libraries throughout the country. Genocide was widespread, with the most well-known location of it in the United Nations “safe zone” of Srebrenica. The Srebrenica Genocide occurred in July 1995, and within roughly two weeks, the Serbs under the command of General Mladić had killed over 8,000 people -- the majority of whom were Bosniak men.
Quo Vadis, Aida?, a film shortlisted for the Oscars, tells the story of the Srebrenica Genocide through the lens of Aida, an English teacher turned United Nations translator. As the Serbs approach the city, we see the civilians rush to the UN base hoping for the safety that was promised them. The UN Commander stationed at the base requests an airstrike only to find his superiors on holiday and unable to provide any support. Aida spends the first half of the movie trying to get her husband and two sons inside the base (it had closed after a small amount, leaving thousands sitting outside through the night), then trying to find a way for them to safely leave as the Bosnian Serbs approached with no sign of stopping and no sign of the UN stepping in.
Eventually, a commander in the Serb military approaches the base and demands to be let inside. The UN lets him and a few of his soldiers in the base to see whether it is only civilians or if there are any soldiers. The UN does not disarm them. A few scenes later we see the men sent on one group of buses in one direction and the women and children are sent in another direction. They know there is little chance that they will see each other again. Mothers try to dress their sons as daughters. The UN helps keep the peace, and more, as the refugees are loaded onto the buses.
Even with a language barrier (I watched the movie on a Bosnian website with Bosnian subtitles to translate the Dutch and English and nothing to translate the Bosnian), I was able to understand what was happening through prior knowledge, what language I could understand, but mainly through the superb acting. Aida’s desperation as she searched for a way to save her family. The hopelessness shown by the UN commander. The fear of the citizens of Srebrenica. The acting is not the only phenomenal aspect of this movie, the storytelling and filmmaking are too.
One aspect Quo Vadis, Aida? really excelled at showcasing in the Bosnian War is how Bosnian Serbs are not foreign invaders. These are neighbors that they knew before the war and have to live with afterward. In a couple of the scenes, we see Aida interacting with a Serb soldier who seems to be a former student of hers, he even knows her family as he asks how, and more specifically where, they are.
It does not end there, the most powerful scenes were at the end of the movie. Aida visits her old apartment in Srebrenica to find the same commander who entered the UN base living there. She teaches English to his son. We see Aida walking through what appears to be perhaps a gym with the remains of victims laid out on the floor. Wives, sisters, and daughters walk around hoping to recognize the belongings of their deceased loved ones. Then we are watching a school play and in the crowd are both perpetrators and victims of the Srebrenica genocide, watching their children together.
While Quo Vadis, Aida? is only a brief overview of the Srebrenica Genocide, it is a powerful message to those who continue to deny its existence and are given platforms on which to do so. The victims of the Srebrenica Genocide are not forgotten.
More links if you would like to learn more about the Srebrenica Genocide and Quo Vadis, Aida?:
Remembering Srebrenica: https://www.srebrenica.org.uk/
Interview between Angelina Jolie and Jasmila Zbanic (director of Quo Vadis, Aida?): https://time.com/5944790/angelina-jolie-jasmila-zbanic-quo-vadis-aida/
A review in Foreign Policy Magazine on Quo Vadis, Aida?: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/27/quo-vadis-aida-best-foreign-film-oscar-shortlist-bosnia-srebrenica-massacre-genocide/
Photos from Srebrenica: https://apnews.com/article/ec01765d17e8c27ead9c3f3ea6e6ca36
The Human Rights Watch report from October 1995: https://www.hrw.org/report/1995/10/15/fall-srebrenica-and-failure-un-peacekeeping/bosnia-and-herzegovina#_ftn1