July 22, 2011 is the date of the horrific terrorist attack in Norway when 77 people, mostly children, were massacred by a right-wing extremist. 22 JULY is director Paul Greengrass’ powerful, tense docu-drama about that tragedy, but the film is more about Norway and the people attacked than about home-grown right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik and his attack.
Paul Greengrass has built a reputation for gripping and strikingly realistic films about actual events with CAPTAIN PHILLIPS and UNITED 93, but has built a reputation for taut thrillers with the Bourne movies. Greengrass brings both skills to bear in 22 JULY, crafting a tension-filled film, but focuses less on the attack and more on its aftermath. Greengrass also wrote the script, based on journalist Asne Seierstad’s book “One of Us.” The attack took place in Norway but the film is in English.
Although this 2011 terror attack shocked peaceful Norway, it was less like America’s 9/11 attack than the Oklahoma bombing. This was a home-grown terrorist with right-wing extremist views, not an attack from outside the country.
Breivik gunned down teenagers at an island summer camp after setting off a bomb at the government center in Oslo. His intention with his truck bomb was to kill the Prime Minister, as well as other leaders of the Norwegian government. He did kill 8 people but not the prime minister. Breivik dressed as a policeman for his attack, and after lighting the bomb’s fuse, drove to remote, scenic Utoya Island, took a ferry to the island and systematically shot the teenagers at the camp for children of Norway’s labor party.
Like CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, 22 JULY shows an emotional restraint and favors a just the facts approach that allows the dramatic feeling to evolve organically out of the human interactions. Greengrass handles to attack with particular skill, shifting attention away from the blood to focus on the fear felt by the campers as they fled and hid from the attacker. Breivik is shown coldly and ruthlessly hunting down the teens, only once with a burst of rage as he shoots campers huddled in a building, calling them “Marxists and liberals.” Before and after the attack, Breivik rails against “forced multiculturalism” and spouts neo-Nazi views.
The real focus of Breivik’s attack was Norwegian society and the film strives for some balance, giving both Breivik and those attacked a chance to speak, although that is done largely through personal conversations. The film moves back and forth between Breivik and those he attacked, primarily one teen survivor wounded in the attack, Viljar.
The gifted Anders Danielsen Lie plays terrorist Anders Behring Breivik with chilling power. Although others share Breivik’s right-wing viewpoints on immigration and multiculturalism, Breivik seems to have acted alone in the attack, although he claimed to be the leader of an anti-immigrant organization. He starts out defiant and seemingly having the upper hand as he speaks to authorities but is soon exposed as a loner with a troubled childhood.
As teen survivor Viljar Hanssen, Jonas Strand Gravli is outstanding. His expressive face conveys haunting and complex feelings, as he first tries to protect his younger brother Torje (Isak Bakli Aglen) during the attack, and then as he struggles to recover from his injuries, wounded leg and hand, the loss of a eye and bullet fragments left in his brain from a gunshot to the face. Ola G. Furuseth plays the role of Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who is stunned by the attack and struggles before finding the right response, while Jon Oigarden is cast as Geir Lippestad, the liberal lawyer Breivik requests for his defense. Seda Witt plays Lara, who arrived in Norway as a child, who is one of Viljar’s friends at the camp, who speaks for the immigrants’ view.
22 JULY hits all the right marks for this kind of true story, focusing on a society that responses to the chaos of attack with the rule of law to bring about justice and the recovery of survivors rather than glorifying the violence or the terrorist. At the same time, it is a gripping, nail-biting thriller that delivers all the drama needed to keep audiences riveted, while giving a final glimmer of hope for good to beat out evil.
22 JULY opens Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the Tivoli Theater and on-demand on Netflix.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
