Quo Vadis, Aida? - 1 nomination

 

Best International Feature Film - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Aida is an English translator working for the UN when the Serbian army invades her small town.  All of the Bosnians in town flee to the UN camp, which has very limited capacity to protect people from those who are attempting genocide.  Aida manages to get her husband and sons inside the camp, and then the rest of the movie is a very tense standoff with the Serbians.  The Serbians agree to evacuate some of the people (though it's unclear that those people on the buses are actually going to be safe and survive), and meanwhile they separate the men from their families.  Aida tries desperately to get her family to safety with the UN employees, none of whom are willing to take the risk of sneaking out men who are not actual employees of the organization.

The desperation of this film is palpable.  Watching Aida run back and forth throughout the camp, doing her best to keep her family safe, and wrapping your head around the utter impotence of UN troops... the film is painful to watch.  Aida is frantic for most of the movie, and we are frantic with her.  An utterly effective portrayal of the horrors of genocide and the frustrations of being powerless to fight back, this sums up Quo Vadis, Aida?  It is absolutely worthy of its nomination.

Watch the trailer here.