History Film / QuoVadisAida

It is about the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre Srebrenica massacre]], the only incident of genocide in Europe since World War II, in which some 8000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men were murdered by Bosnian Serbs. As the film starts, conditions in Srebrenica are already desperate. A Serb army advances on the town, while Bosniaks in Srebrenica flee in panic. The city has been declared a "safe area" by the United Nations, but it is clear that the UN doesn't have the political will to use force to protect Srebrenica. In the tiny garrison at the UN base of Potocari, a battalion of Dutch soldiers ("Dutchbat") is outnumbered and low on equipment.

* ChildhoodCrush: Chamila, one of the three Bosniaks send to negotiate with the Serbs, knows one of the Serbian soldiers since they were kids. Despite she claims they were only just friends it's implied that the soldier had some romantic feelings for her.

* HateSink: Mladic, his right hand Joka and the rest of the Serbian soldiers are portrayed as cruel, sadistic and genocidal supremacists who while not participating in war crimes act like dicks towards the Bosnian civilians and the Dutch military. So, yeah, it's perfectly alright to hate them.

* ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer: It's made perfectly clear that the UN promise of Srebrenica being a safe haven, and in fact any UN protection, is worthless if the UN isn't willing to do anything about it by actually, say, shooting at Serbs. When a UN soldier tells Aida that her husband and sons have to get on the buses and says "Don't make me use force!", she says "Use it!," because the Serbs will kill her menfolk anyway.

It is about the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre Srebrenica massacre]], the only incident of genocide in Europe since World War II, in which some 8000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men were murdered by Bosnian Serbs. As the film starts, conditions in Srebrenica are already desperate. A Serb army advances on the town, while Bosniaks in Srebrenica flee in panic. The city has been declared a "safe area" by the United Nations, but it is clear that the UN doesn't have the political will to use force to protect Srebrenica, and the tiny garrison at the UN base of Potocari, a battalion of Dutch soldiers ("Dutchbat") is outnumbered and low on equipment in any case.

* BystanderSyndrome: The Bosnian Serb civilians just look at trucks full of Bosniaks men carrying and children playing near the gym where the mass killings happens.

* PervyPatdown: Of the three Bosniak civilians sent to "negotiate" with Mladic, one is a female accountant. The guard outside the room runs his hands inside her skirt and up her legs in a very gross way as his buddy chortles with amusement. ([[Foreshadowing This is probably a reference to the mass rape that went along with the mass murder after Srebrenica fell]].)

* DownerEnding: Also ForegoneConclusion. Aida's husband and sons are murdered along with 8,000 other Bosniaks. She goes back to an empty apartment. Apparently she's able to evict a Serb family from what was her home, but one of the perpetrators of the massacre lives in her building, making clear that [[KarmaHoundini most of the murderers of Srebrenica escaped justice]].

* DownerEnding: Aida's husband and sons are murdered along with 8,000 other Bosniaks. She goes back to an empty apartment. Apparently she's able to evict a Serb family from what was her home, but one of the perpetrators of the massacre lives in her building, making clear that most of the murderers of Srebrenica escaped justice.

* HandshakeRefusal: The Bosniak leader talking with Col. Karremans in the opening scene refuses his outstretched hand, because he doesn't believe Karremans' promise that the UN will send air strikes against the Serbs. He's right.
* HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier: An aggressive Serb officer named Joka comes to the gate at Potocari, and demands to be let into see if there are any Bosniak soldiers there. The frightened UN soldier says in English that there aren't any soldiers inside, followed by Joka looking over at his buddy and saying in Serb, "He says there are no soldiers--motherfucker!" (Of course, while the UN soldier can't understand what Joka said, Joka's aggressive tone is quite clear.)

* PervyPatdown: Of the three Bosniak civilians sent to "negotiate" with Mladic, one is a female accountant. The guard outside the room runs his hands inside her skirt and up her legs in a very gross way as his buddy chortles with amusement. (This is probably a reference to the mass rape that went along with the mass murder after Srebrenica fell.)

It is about the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre Srebrenica massacre]], the only incident of genocide in Europe since World War II, in which some 8000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men were murdered by Bosnian Serbs. As the film starts, conditions in Srebrenica are already desperate. A Serb army advances on the town, while Bosniaks in Srebrenica flee in panic. The city has been declared a "safe area" by the United Nations, but it is clear that the UN doesn't have the political will to use force to protect Srebrenica, and the tiny garrison at the UN base, a battalion of Dutch soldiers ("Dutchbat") is outnumbered and low on equipment in any case.

* ScreamingBirth: A woman gives birth inside the Potocari base, in a scene that demonstrates the chaotic conditions inside the camp.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: General Ratko Mladic, who was later sentenced to life in prison for the war crime he ordered at Srebrenica. Also Col. Karremans, the vacillating, frightened commander of the Dutchbat, and his junior Major Franken.