Quo Vadis, Aida?

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Quo Vadis, Aida?
Quo Vadis, Aida?.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJasmila Žbanić
Written byJasmila Žbanić
Produced by
  • Damir Ibrahimović
  • Jasmila Žbanić
Starring
CinematographyChristine A. Maier
Edited byJarosław Kamiński
Music byAntoni Łazarkiewicz
Production
companies
  • Deblokada Film
  • Digital Cube
  • Coop99 Filmproduktion
  • N279 Entertainment
  • Razor Filmproduktion
  • Extreme Emotions
  • Indie Prod
  • Tordenfilm
  • TRT
Release date
Running time
102 minutes
Countries
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Austria
  • Germany
  • France
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Romania
  • Turkey
Languages
  • Bosnian
  • English
  • Serbian
  • Dutch
Budget€3.5–4 million[2][3]

Quo Vadis, Aida? (lit. 'Where are you going, Aida?') is a 2020 Bosnian war film written, produced and directed by Jasmila Žbanić. An international co-production of twelve production companies,[4] the film was shown in the main competition section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival.[5] It was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards.

Plot[]

On 11 July 1995, UN translator and former schoolteacher Aida Selmanagić tries to save her family after the Army of Republika Srpska takes over the city of Srebrenica before the Srebrenica massacre. The film opens with Aida translating a meeting between UN colonel Thom Karremans and the mayor of Srebrenica. Karremans reassures the group gathered that the UN and NATO will provide airstrikes if the aggressing Serbian forces violate the formal UN ultimatum that Srebrenica is a designated "safe zone." The mayor, frustrated, informs him that the Serbian forces, led by general Ratko Mladić, are already actively attacking the city. The meeting deteriorates when Karremans refuses to promise protection — or responsibility — for the safety of the refugees fleeing the approaching forces.

Thousands of citizens, including Aida's husband, Nihad, and two sons Hamdija and Sejo, flee to the nearby UN camp looking for shelter. As a translator, Aida is allowed into the crowded and poorly run camp along with some of the refugees, but thousands are refused entry to the camp. Aida eventually gets Nihad inside the compound when she persuades Karremans that he is educated and will help with negotiations with Mladić. Meanwhile, an increasingly overwhelmed Karremans tries to get in contact with UN leaders to order an airstrike, only to learn that they are all on vacation, and Mladić steamrolls into Srebrenica unchallenged and proceeds to commit genocide against the civilians. Aida grows increasingly desperate to secure protection and a hiding place for her sons as she is forced to translate the increasingly obvious lies of the Serbian forces and false promises of the UN to refugees who include her friends and neighbors.

The farcical negotiations between the UN and Serbian forces begin, with Nihad and two other civilians present. Back at the base, Aida is shocked to find that some of her former students are among Mladić's ranks, and when they inquire about Hamdija and Sejo, she lies and tells them they escaped into the nearby woods. Karremans bends to Mladić's manipulations in an attempt to save lives. Mladić arranges a deal, claiming that he will transport civilians to safety with the UN as an escort. The UN delegation agrees, which allows Mladić unfettered access to the unarmed civilians. Aida attempts to pressure the UN leadership to stop Mladić, but is met by obstructive bureaucracy. Mladić "evacuates" a large number of refugees, separating boys and men from women and the elderly, and Aida is cognizant that the latter will be brutalized and the former will be murdered as the UN are already failing their escort duties.

Eventually all of the refugees are removed, and Aida, realizing that her Nihad, Hamdija and Sejo are in serious danger, attempts to protect her family by any means necessary. However, she is unable to secure false ID cards and is coldly refused by the UN after she pleads for them to be put under their protection or evacuated in secret in a UN vehicle; she suggests a UN soldier shoot her sons in the foot so that they can be evacuated to a hospital, only to be told that all of the medical transportation vehicles have mysteriously failed to reach their destination. Eventually, a bus comes to take Hamdija and Sejo away. Aida begs on her knees to Major Franken that they be protected, but Franken says only Nihad can stay as he can work as a civilian volunteer. Even as Nihad volunteers to take the place of one of his sons, Franken refuses. Nihad leaves with the boys so that they will not be alone, leaving Aida broken and devastated. Nihad, Hamdija, and Sejo are driven away with the rest of the men, herded into a building, and summarily executed via machine-gun fire.

Years later, Aida, back in Srebrenica and once more a schoolteacher, returns to her old family apartment, which is now occupied by a Serbian family. She asks one of the current residents, a young mother, if they have found pictures of her family and coldly informs her that they have not yet found the bodies of Nihad, Hamdija, or Sejo. After pressuring the woman to move out of the apartment, she departs and encounters one of her former tormenters on the stairwell and is speechless to realize that he now also occupies her old apartment. Later she reaches a building where the exhumed remains of the genocide victims are being presented for identification. As she walks around the room filled with skeletal remains and old belongings, she recognizes clothing belonging to her sons and breaks down in tears. The film closes with Aida looking through the discovered photos of her family, then observing schoolchildren performing musical theater as she smiles.

Cast[]

Release[]

The film had its world premiere at the 77th Venice International Film Festival on 3 September 2020.[5][6] It was also screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2020.[7][8] In February 2021, Super LTD acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film.[9] It was released in the United States through virtual cinema on 5 March 2021, followed by video on demand on 15 March 2021.[10]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 54 critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is 8.8/10. The critics consensus on the website states: "Quo Vadis, Aida? uses one woman's heartbreaking conflict to offer a searing account of war's devastating human toll."[11] According to Metacritic, the film received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 97 out of 100 from 16 critic reviews.[12]

Ryan Gilbey of New Statesman stated "Žbanić has shaped the factual into an eloquent and conscientious picture that purrs along as suspensefully as any ticking-bomb thriller, using Ðuričić's performance as its engine".[13] Jude Dry of IndieWire wrote that "Žbanić lays bare the deeply human toll of violence and war",[14] and Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian that "after 25 years, the time has come to look again at the horror of Srebrenica, and Žbanić has done this with clear-eyed compassion and candor".[15]

Jessica Kiang for Variety states that "this is not historical revisionism, if anything, Quo Vadis, Aida? works to un-revise history, re-centering the victims’ plight as the eye of a storm of evils — not only the massacre itself, but the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference".[16] Kevin Maher writes in The Times that "it's incendiary, furiously committed film-making from the director Jasmila Žbanić, who also adds an unnerving ending about the burden that Srebrenica survivors still bear."[17]

Accolades[]

In September 2020, Quo Vadis, Aida? was selected as the Bosnian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards,[18] making the shortlist of fifteen films.[19] On 15 March 2021, the film was officially recognized as a nominee in that category.[20] It won the Audience Award at the 50th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam[21] and the Best International Film Award at the 2021 Gothenburg Film Festival.[22] The film was also nominated for and later on won the Best International Film Award at the 36th Independent Spirit Awards.[23] In March 2021, 74th British Academy Film Awards nominated the film for Best Film Not in the English Language and Žbanić earned a nomination in the Best Director category.[24]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aida?". Venice Film Festival. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  2. ^ Blaga, Iulia (22 October 2018). "GRANTS: Romanian CNC Gives Biggest Grant to Minority Coproduction Quo Vadis, Aida!". filmneweurope.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. ^ Solomun, Zoran (30 August 2020). ""Quo Vadis, Aida?" – novi film Jasmile Žbanić". DW (in Bosnian). Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aida? Film by Bosnian Director Jasmila Zbanic on the Venice Biennale". Sarajevo Times. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Sharf, Zack (28 July 2020). "Venice Film Festival 2020 Full Lineup: Luca Guadagnino, Chloe Zhao, Gia Coppola, and More". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aida?". labiennale.org. La Biennale di Venezia. 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  7. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (30 July 2020). "Toronto Sets 2020 Lineup: Werner Herzog, Regina King, Mira Nair, Francois Ozon, Naomi Kawase Titles Join Hybrid Edition". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aïda?". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  9. ^ Grater, Tom (19 February 2021). "Oscar-Shortlisted Bosnian War Drama 'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Lands At Neon's Super Ltd". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  10. ^ Berger, Laura (5 March 2021). "Trailer Watch: A U.N. Translator Faces a Crisis in Jasmila Žbanić's Oscar Contender "Quo Vadis, Aida?"". Women and Hollywood. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  11. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Quo Vadis, Aida?". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  13. ^ Ryan Gilbey (27 January 2021). "Quo Vadis, Aida? is a powerful drama about the Srebrenica genocide". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  14. ^ Dry, Jude (15 September 2020). "'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Review: A Gripping and Tragic Feminist Drama About Bosnian Genocide". IndieWire. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (20 January 2021). "Quo Vadis, Aida? review – shattering return to Srebrenica". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  16. ^ Kiang, Jessica (5 September 2020). "'Quo Vadis, Aida?' Review: Harrowing, Vital Retelling of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre". Variety. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  17. ^ Maher, Kevin (22 January 2021). "Quo Vadis, Aida? review — incendiary, furiously committed Bosnian war drama". The Times. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Movie Quo Vadis, Aida? is BH Candidate for Oscar". Sarajevo Times. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  19. ^ Davis, Clayton (9 February 2021). "Oscars Shortlists Announced in Nine Categories". Variety. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  20. ^ L.K. (15 March 2021). "Film Jasmile Žbanić o genocidu u Srebrenici nominovan za Oscara!" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Pebbles by Vinothraj P.S. wins the 2021 Tiger Award". iffr.com. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  22. ^ N.V. (7 February 2021). "Film "Quo vadis, Aida" nagrađen na filmskim festivalima u Roterdamu i Goterborgu" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  23. ^ N.O. (23 April 2021). ""Quo Vadis, Aida?" dobio još jednu nagradu za najbolji strani film" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  24. ^ L.K. (9 March 2021). ""Quo Vadis, Aida?" nominovan za dvije BAFTA nagrade" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 9 March 2021.

External links[]

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