Film Review: "22 July" (2018).

"The true story of a day that started like any other." This is 22 July. This crime drama film written, co-produced and directed by Paul Greengrass. Based on the 2011 Norway attacks and the aftermath, as well as the book One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway - and Its Aftermath by Åsne Seierstad. After devastating terror attacks in Norway, young survivor, grieving families and the country rally for justice and healing.

In late August 2017, Greengrass announced that he was working on a new Netflix movie focused on the 2011 Norway attacks and the aftermath. Greengrass' announcement was met with great controversy in Norway. A campaign against the film was established, and generated over 20,000 signatures to have the film shut down. The campaign failed. At the end of 2017, production on the film began. The film marked Greengrass' first time shooting digitally. For the cast, Greengrass revealed that he used Norwegian actors and crew for the film, because he considered that the film should be identified like a Norwegian film. He also revealed that he didn’t use the Norwegian language for the film, because he didn’t speak Norwegian, so he looked for actors who can speak English.

The film stars Anders Danielsen Lie, Jon Øigarden, Thorbjørn Harr, Jonas Strand Gravli, Ola G. Furuseth, Ulrikke Hansen Døvigen, Isak Bakli Aglen, Maria Bock and Seda Witt. The cast gave gripping performances that conveys one truth above all else: the killings of the seventy-seven victims on 22nd July 2011 is truly horrific.

I can say that 22 July has been done well - with intelligence, compassion, efficiency - and yet still question whether it was worth doing. The film is real-time reconstruction of events on the doomed flight that manages to encapsulate all the anxieties and sorrows of our age. Amazingly detailed in its narrative cohesion and editing, 22 July is a noble tribute to the tragedy. It's masterful and heartbreaking. This is first-rate, visceral filmmaking: taut, watchful, free of false histrionics, as observant of the fear in the young terrorist's eyes as the hysteria in Oslo and Utøya, and smart enough to know this material doesn't need to be sensationalized. It does honor to the memory of the victims. 22 July might be an insular response to a national tragedy, but - taken on its own, limited terms - it is powerful and sincere, giving reign to pity and fear without indulging jingoism or sentimentality. For that at least it deserves applause. It's a difficult and upsetting experience but a worthwhile one, which will linger in your mind long after the film ends. One of the most moving films of the year. What might be therapeutic for the families is not perhaps meant for public consumption. Impossible to recommend as a great Netflix night in, yet agonisingly vital as thought-urging cinema. This is not a film you go to for enjoyment, but because you have a duty to endure it. This is a picture we all must see.

Simon says 22 July receives:

Also, see my review for Jason Bourne.