No. 4 (2022) QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jan. 10th.

 

Film No. 4 (2022)  January 10th.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                        

"We give this town as a gift to the Serbian people" (July 11th and Radko Mladic sets foot in Srebrenica and announces this town now belongs to the Serbs).

Bosnian film-maker Jasmila Zbanic has many stories to tell depicting her Bosnian heritage. GRBAVICA and NA PUTU give a hint that she feels the atrocities carried out on her people during the mid-nineties need to be continually brought to the attention of the world. Don't you admire an artist who dedicates part of their life to a cause worth fighting for? Zbanic presents to us, QUO VADIS, AIDA? Entertainment it isn't, but important cinema it is. Excruciatingly important.

The Butcher of Bosnia is how Serbian leader Ratko Mladic is described by the world for his treatment of Bosnians, (mainly Muslims) in the nineties during the very cruel civil war in the once proud nation of Yugoslavia.

 

In the summer of 1995 in the town of Srebrenica a crime of catastrophic proportions (the worst case of genocide since WWII) took place under his command. It took place over 5 days under the noses of The U.N. This film, QUO VADIS, AIDA?, brings us a seismically devastating understanding of this war-crime through the eyes of local teacher Aida (Jasna  Duricic),  who has been seconded as a U.N. interpreter. Be very aware that this film makes you acutely aware of what a relatively contemporary WAR CRIME feels like close up. Aida is in close-up most of the time and she does not let us out of her sight.

How does a film-maker produce the realism of those events from July 1995? In scenes such as these; The re-enactment of Srebrenica's thousands of citizens gathered either indoors or outdoors under the care of the U.N., hoping they have the teeth to protect them from the Serbs. The unease with which normal people are suddenly, absurdly under threat, not knowing if their neighbour or ex-classmate has turned against them. It is all here. It's here in spades.      

Maybe, just maybe Jasmila Zbanic feels she has created, in 100 minutes, the ultimate statement about a time and place that will never be forgotten. I for one won't be forgetting QUO VADIS, AIDA? in a hurry. 12GUMS.