Quo Vadis, Aida?
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
We are playing catch up by reviewing films that are a part of the current awards season.
The gift of information is something that can change any circumstance, and Jasmila Žbanić’s masterful Quo Vadis, Aida? is a political thriller that has the titular interpreter having to calculate moves on the fly. She is the primary voice for the city of Srebrenica once it is overrun by the Army of Republika Srpska. Knowing a little bit before watching Quo Vadis, Aida? is all the difference one needs for the film to go from a thrilling war film to a nauseating delay of the inevitable. This film predates the Srebrenica massacre: a genocide that claimed over eight thousand lives of Bosniak Muslims. Aida Selmanagić’s family (her husband and two sons) are seeking shelter in a United Nations camp, and she slowly learns the severity of their predicament and lack of safety (where they expected protection).
Quo Vadis, Aida? is more than a race against time. Aida is the bridge between the oppressors and the oppressed, and she decides to do what she can to protect the countless lives that are now endangered. It’s an astonishing premise, given major validity given the real historical events it is based on. Hell, General Mladić is also in this, and knowing anything about him will have you getting shivers down your spine every time he is on screen. Then again, going into this film uninformed would present you with a bit of a naivety, as if you don’t fully get how frightening this situation is (or maybe the extent of this danger). Either way, you’re bound to have either result watching Quo Vadis, Aida?: one of 2020’s most anxious cinematic experiences.
The titular Aida is presented with information before anyone else as an interpreter, which she tries to use to her advantage.
What is interesting about this film is that you could swear it’s a really good one, and that’s about it (not that that’s anything wrong, because who wouldn’t want to watch a really good film?). As it continues, it reveals itself as a great film, and then an exemplary one, and finally it resolves as one of the best pictures of 2020. Usually, films of such an epic nature would lose steam. Not this one. Žbanić knows how to make this picture keep going, and actually get stronger as it goes. Dread doesn’t even begin to describe what you’ll be feeling halfway through, and you can forget about the overwhelming shock of the finale; it’s an image I still can’t get out of my head weeks later. Part of this effect is crafted by the red herring Quo Vadis, Aida? presents us: it is disguised as your usual war drama that will go about its business and then wrap up. Nope. This is a series of curve balls and catastrophes that shake up where you stand every dozen minutes.
It’s actually so strange, because I usually start films off with a perfect score, and see how I feel as they get going. I was fully feeling like this film was going to be decent at best, but its escalation of its twists and turns and developments kept improving the film. Actually, improving is the wrong word. Once I go back to the earlier moments of Quo Vadis, Aida? — when I was under the impression that I was going to be watching something fairly standard for war pictures — they feel completely different to me now; as if I had blinders on the first time through. It’s one of the only times I felt a film go from, say, a 3.5 out of 5, and rise to nearly perfect. Hell, if I come back to Quo Vadis, Aida? in the near future, it could actually become a 5. It’s absolutely one of 2020’s strongest pictures, without a doubt. Again, I just find all of this so unusual, because that’s just not how critiquing a film typically feels; I’ve watched thousands of films in my lifetime, and I can attest to this.
Quo Vadis, Aida? gets more and more intense as it continues, in such a way that the entire first half is rewritten whenever you revisit it.
Then I remember the major theme of the film: information. It’s narrative information I now have that has changed everything else in the earlier moments. This happens all the time with films; two of my all time favourite films are Chinatown and Mulholland Drive. However, there’s just something about Quo Vadis, Aida? where knowledge feels like a curse; again, it’s like watching the film with any knowledge of Mladić’s war crimes will be different than not knowing about him at all. Any additional rewatch of Quo Vadis, Aida? is guaranteed to be more and more harrowing, and it’s impossible to drift away from it, because so many moments are going to stick with you for a long time after you’re done.
The horrors of the film are all thanks to its many perfect elements. Jasna Đuričić’s gripping performance as the titular Aida. Christine A. Maier’s muted cool colours in her striking cinematography. The uneasy-yet-affective score by Antoni Łazarkiewicz. Everything works together as a series of catalysts for Jasmila Žbanić’s loudest, most earth shattering statement in her promising career. Quo Vadis, Aida? is deceptively hopeful at times, because it’s truly one of the most haunting cinematic experiences of the 2020’s so far (I say that, even though we’ve only just finished one year, because I have a feeling this will be the case for most of the decade). As it stands, the film is an entry for the Best International Feature Film category at this year’s Academy Awards, but I can see it generating into a beloved tragic war film for the years to come. Those who see it won’t forget it and will share it with others. Its reputation — as a vital recapturing of disturbing history, a powerful film, and a work of art — will only grow with time.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.