Bravehearts (2012)

A documentary about youth politicians changes radically when a terrorist commits Utøya-massacre of 69 party kids while filming.

Director:

Kari Anne Moe

Writer:

Kari Anne Moe

Stars:

Henrik Wangberg, Sana El Morabit, Johanne Butenschøn Lindheim

Cast

Credited cast:
Henrik Wangberg	...	Self
Sana El Morabit	...	Self
Johanne Butenschøn Lindheim	...	Self
Haakon Vedum	...	Self
Marie Butenschøn Lindheim	...	Self - Johanne Butenschøn Lindheim's sister
Jonas Gahr Støre	...	Self - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Tone Lindheim	...	Self - Johanne Butenschøn Lindheim's mother
Kronprins Haakon	...	Self - Crown Prince of Norway (as Haakon Magnus)
Audun Lysbakken	...	Self
Jens Stoltenberg	...	Self - Prime Minister of Norway
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Amal Abdinur	...	Self
Sasha Al-Halabi	...	Self
Mah-Rukh Ali	...	Self
Hannan Allachmir	...	Hemself
Abdullah Alsabeehg	...	Self

Storyline

Documentary which follows four youth politicians in their work for four different Norwegian youth organizations. The premise changes drastically on the 22nd of July 2011, when neo-nazi Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 labor party youths on the island of Utøya, hours after he had blown up the governmental centre of Oslo. The labor party youth survives the massacre, but gives a horrifying description of the flight from the killer, seeing friend being shot one after another. We get to know how it is to be a youth politician, both before and after such a political terror attack, and how the youths decide that politics are more important than ever to make the world better and safer.

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Plot Keywords:

utoya norway | 2011 norway terror attack | politician | politics | massacre | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was originally named Braveheart but changed name to Til ungdommen after the Utøya-massacre killing 69 youths. The film then needed a Norwegian title, according to the filmmaker. Til ungdommen, which in English means For the youths, is named after a famous Norwegian poem with the same name by Nordahl Grieg.

User Reviews

Political documentary gave interesting angle on Utøya-massacre

Film maker Kari Anne Moe got her plans radically changed when making this documentary about Norwegian youth politicians, when right wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 youths at the Utøya labor party youth gathering on the 22nd of July 2011.

She must have felt that her good project was massacred as well, but with the cameras there they kept filming what has become a valuable document of political youths in 2011.

Still she has managed to keep a focus on the political aspect of the idea in a good way. The young youth politician here which was hunted at the little Island gives a strong version of her story from th horrific Utøya-massacre as well as her problems after wards.

The film about the four very different youth politicians gives a good view over what it is like being a young aspiring politician in the country which is both the min most democratic in the world, as well as the country which is on top in Happiness, due to UN-statistics.

The documentary is well made, and professionally distance to what happened has done the film good. Music is perfectly fitted, and adds value to the film. All is told by the youths, both fun and serious stuff. They all give a good view of the different political environments they live and volunteer in.

The labor party girl is in the center here, but still the film makers has managed to give equal time to the three other youths they are following as well. And it's the two boys who adds the needed humor to the film. Somehow the film makers succeeds in making a film which gives justice to both the youths and the massacre, and avoids the problem I though it had. It was far better than expected.

When watching this in a theater, i was together with a quite full attendance of teenagers below 15 years of age, and I could feel they got bored at the end of the film. And the film is 15 minutes too long, and ends abrupt. It's not easy to keep interest after leaving the tragic event, and it would have been a an even better film, if shorter. There's not enough "darlings killed" here by the film makers (no pun intended), but is still a valuable document, well suited to teach about political interest amongst youngsters.

Details

Country:

Norway Sweden

Language:

Norwegian

Release Date:

31 August 2012 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Till ungdomen

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$174,867

Company Credits

Production Co:

Auto Images, Film i Skåne, Norsk Filminstitutt

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 59 min (TV) (2016)

Color:

Color