Its July 1995 during the UN led evacuation of Srebrenica ahead of the town’s seizing by The Army of Republika Srpska. Helping the UN in their efforts is a translator, Aida Selmangić (Jasna Djuricic). As the evacuation continues, Aida desperately works to get her family into the safety of the UN shelter, but as further negotiations with The Bosnian Serb Army raise suspicions, Aida becomes torn in her commitment to serving the UN and maintaining the safety of her family as the refugees are relocated by the invading forces away from the base. 

Quo Vadis, Aida? is a narrative account of the events leading up to the Srebrenica Massacre written and directed by Jasmila Zbanic.  She breaks the story in a very personal way, focusing on Aida’s push and pull relationship between fulfilling her role as the UN translator and protecting the family of which she is the matriarch.  This highlighting of the relationship is very unique as oftentimes we will see soldiers question the war efforts, but Aida is a civilian brought into the center of this all but still with the weight of duty and responsibility, and that dynamic brings in a whole new perspective to the war genre. 

When you take in Djuricic’s simply phenomenal performance, Quo Vadis, Aida? works as an incredible human drama, too.  Her performance becomes increasingly frantic as time begins to run out to secure her family.  It is not a flashy role, it is not one with costumes or makeup, and she looks naturally human in a way that is almost never seen in American films, yet she captivates and enchants the audience all the same through the power of her acting. 

One of the other notable things about the film is how Zbanic manages to achieve very natural and haunting performances from all her actors, even the masses of refugees.  In war, everyone thinks they are on the right side of history, but very few films show it as well as it is expressed here with General Ratko Mladić (Boris Isaković).  Lesser scripts would find ways to subtlety hint that Mladić is sociopathic – swatting at or crushing a bug, for instance – but instead he is shown in a very generous light, even messianic at points as his troops distribute bread to the masses starving at the UN refugee shelter.  He is seen as a symbol of salvation and competence, far more so than the UN, that is, until, the finale of his evacuation plan is revealed. 

Zbanic handles the material with great care and reverence, the wounds still fresh for many.  One of the really unique things she does is that she will return to some of the refugee characters time and time again throughout the length of the film.  They might only have one or two brief lines in the film, but a careful viewer will notice some of the same people in the background and by returning to a handful of extras repeatedly, it helps us build a stronger connection with the Srebrenica people as a whole. 

The film ends with about a fifteen-minute coda after the war and it is incredibly moving with the weight of tragedy hanging heavy on each frame.  Djuricic remains stunning as a woman who has no other choice but to keep moving forward.  Haunted by the war which she was brought into, she tries to rebuild her life and career.  In the final moments of the film, there is prominent use of a butterfly as a symbol, though it is a little questionable given the usual implications of a transformation into something more beautiful, but Zbanic, much like back in the UN shelter, seems more concerned with telling her story by capturing the faces as her camera keeps a tight frame on her subjects and the tone she is aiming for is not lost.    

Perhaps it is my own historical ignorance of the events of that deadly summer, but Quo Vadis, Aida? read more like a political thriller at times than a strict war film.  With shades of Come and See (1985) and Sicario (2015), the film shows the horrors of war through a new lens and highlights how violence becomes part of the fabric of society.  It shows that war effects more than just the soldiers and the officers, but also the surrounding communities, too.  Long after the armies have departed, it is the burden of the people who are left living in the shells of their once proud towns to reconcile with the insurmountable cost of conflict which their leaders brought home to their doorstep.