Popular culture is important, as it gives the forgotten victims of war a voice
There are many reasons why the success of the Bosnian film Quo Vadis, Aida?, which chronicles the 1995 genocide in the town of Srebrenica, is remarkable.
The fact that a 46-year-old Bosnian woman with a multi-ethnic cast made a mark far into the upper echelons of Hollywood is groundbreaking. In an industry that usually rewards Borat, a serious feature about war doesn’t seem probable. But Jasmila Zbanic, the director, who came of age during the siege of Sarajevo, has made a film about a massacre that some people still deny happened.
My wish is that Quo Vadis, Aida? will reach a wide audience – of those who were born long after 1995. If viewers who never heard of Srebrenica – or don’t know where Bosnia is – watch the film, they will come away with a unique understanding of an ethno-nationalist war that occurred in Europe at the end of the 20th century.
It was a conflict that took human cruelty to horrific levels, with concentration camps, systematic rape, torture and starvation used as tools of war. It is one we must never forget so that we can prevent others like it from happening again.
As a reporter who worked there throughout the war, Bosnia is burned into my mind. But for most, it remains a distant and unknown country that is perhaps too complicated to comprehend. Many of my students don’t know anything about Bosnia.
Quo Vadis, Aida? could potentially change that. It has been nominated for best international film at the Oscars and the Baftas. If it wins and gets the attention it deserves, it means that this war – which was in many ways a template for future wars to come, including in Syria – will be lodged in collective memory. Remembering and acknowledging the horror is a small but vital step towards healing. Bosnia, 26 years after the war ended, is far from healed.
Films have the power to reach mass audiences in a way that books sometimes don’t. Art can be forged not only from cultural or spiritual events, but also heinous moments in history.
The Killing Fields, a 1984 biographical drama, told the story of the horrendous years of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s. By focusing on the relationship between an American journalist and his Cambodian interpreter, the narrative of male bonding against the backdrop of a brutal war became a universal story. Roland Joffe, the director, was able to draw a wider audience and educate them about the resulting genocide that killed up to two million people.
Another powerful film is The Mauritanian. It is a recent release and will leave many appalled at the conditions and treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. The film is a true story recounting the journey of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was wrongly accused of terrorist acts after the September 11 attacks.
Slahi was held for 14 years inside the grim cells of Guantanamo without a charge. Even after he was cleared of all charges by a federal court, he was held for another six years before he was released. Originally published as a book, Guantanamo Diary was described by The New York Times as a document of “immense emotional power and historical importance”. The film left me shaky and disturbed, making me go back to look at documents and research papers on Guantanamo.
These are not easy films to digest and they keep you awake at night. Quo Vadis, Aida? was especially difficult film for me to watch. Like many who witnessed the atrocities there, I have immense shame and sorrow at the international community’s abandonment of the people of Srebrenica.
Zbanic came of age during the siege of Sarajevo, a time when snipers aimed their guns at the knees and hearts of women and children, and when art and culture was destroyed. Nonetheless, Zbanic survived and in some ways thrived as a filmmaker. Her goal is to leave an imprint of the terrible events of Srebrenica on the public memory. She also believes that this film will act as a sort of bridge for both Serbs and Muslims to begin a form of reconciliation and healing.
The film traces the three days that shamed the world from the fall of the city to the UN’s alleged complicity in the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys. Zbanic filmed it so powerfully and so beautifully that she made those awful days in July, 1995 indelible. Now, no one can erase them.
It made me think of other films that captured history. The post 9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brought many feature films, the best among them in my view being The Hurt Locker, about a demining expert suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. American Sniper also left an impact, although it perturbed me, and not in the way that Quo Vadis, Aida? did. The film was controversial, largely for the portrayal of the war in Iraq and the protagonist’s attitide to killing.
There was also The Kite Runner and a spate of Osama bin Laden films, including one about his capture, Zero Dark Thirty. But these are action films, intended to reach a different audience.
Which is how Quo Vadis, Aida? is unique. It is not just an action movie aimed at teenage boys. By telling the story of Srebrenica through the eyes of a UN interpreter – who is also a mother and wife – Zbanic hopes people will learn about the genocide, so that it never happens again.
It is an educational tool and a vital mechanism to discuss genocide – not just in Bosnia, as Zbanic told me, but everywhere – so that people will learn never to make the same mistakes again.
Movies are the best medium to teach new generations about the story and tragedy of distant conflicts