The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviewsCurzon

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Quo Vadis, Aida? | Movie review
18 January 2021
Andrew Murray
Avatar
Andrew Murray
18 January 2021

Movie and show review

Andrew Murray

Quo Vadis, Aida?

★★★★★

Release date

22nd January 2021

Platform

Curzon

Links

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsite

It’s July 1995 and the end of the Bosnian War is in sight. Aida (Jasna Đuričić) is working as a translator between the UN and Serbian forces that are currently occupying the small town of Srebrenica, an area designated as a safe zone by the intergovernmental organisation. With the protagonist sitting between representatives from each side as they engage in volatile negotiations, this opening scene effectively foreshadows the events that are to come in Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Žbanić’s latest project. Finding herself in the middle of an intensifying ordeal, the correspondent does everything in her power to get her husband and sons to safety as the sense of unease grows when she begins to suspect that malice is in the air.

A sobering and highly impactful portrayal of the horrific Srebrenica Massacre in which over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered, Žbanić’s film is yet another stark reminder of humanity’s unrelenting cruelty. Framed almost entirely from Aida’s perspective, the script places viewers in the centre of the situation as it ever so slowly escalates. Combined with Đuričić’s raw performance, spectators are given an intimate connection to a tragedy that affected thousands.

Though the pacing is purposefully slow to start, the filmmaker nevertheless generates an underlying tension by setting events in the claustrophobically overcrowded base in which the civilians are held. An omnipresent dread hangs in the air, and there’s a collective understanding that it will only take the smallest incident to ignite the powder keg. When the domineering General Mladic (Boris Isakovic, who relishes every second of his performance) is introduced into the fray, that spark is lit. Chaos erupts; the camerawork becomes more erratic to represent Aida’s turmoil, while terror and uncertainty overrun the base as the Serbian forces take control.

Unfortunately, though, the conclusion isn’t strong enough to follow on from the brilliance of what came before. While the rest of the film avoided leaning into clichés, instead choosing to present the situation objectively to tell its historic account, the finale is one huge cliché that subsequently fails to add anything substantial. Aside from an underwhelming culmination, Quo Vadis, Aida? is a triumph.

★★★★★

Andrew Murray

Quo Vadis, Aida? is released digitally on demand on 22nd January 2021.

Watch the trailer for Quo Vadis, Aida? here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The United States Vs Billie Holiday

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Sinners

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

What Lies Below

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Blush

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Wrong Turn

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Ginny & Georgia

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Andrew Murray

Quo Vadis, Aida?

★★★★★

Release date

22nd January 2021

Platform

Curzon

Links

TwitterInstagramFacebookWebsite

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Jumbo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Wonderful Wanda
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Coming together in courage: 76 Days | Movie review
Jeremiah Fraites – Piano Piano | Album review