Utøya: July 22 (2018)

A teenage girl struggles to survive and to find her younger sister during the July 2011 terrorist mass murder at a political summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utøya.

Director:

Erik Poppe

Writers:

Siv Rajendram Eliassen (screenplay), Anna Bache-Wiig (screenplay)

Stars:

Andrea Berntzen, Aleksander Holmen, Solveig Koløen Birkeland

4 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Andrea Berntzen	...	Kaja
Aleksander Holmen	...	Magnus
Solveig Koløen Birkeland	...	Injured Girl
Brede Fristad	...	Petter
Elli Rhiannon Müller Osbourne	...	Emilie (as Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne)
Jenny Svennevig	...	Oda
Ingeborg Enes	...	Kristine (as Ingeborg Enes Kjevik)
Sorosh Sadat	...	Issa
Ada Eide	...	Caroline (as Ada Otilde Eide)
Mariann Gjerdsbakk	...	Silje
Daniel Sang Tran	...	Even
Torkel Dommersnes Soldal	...	Herman
Magnus Moen	...	Tobias
Karoline Petronella Ulfsdatter Schau	...	Sigrid (as Karoline Schau)
Tamanna Agnihotri	...	Halima

Storyline

On July 22, 2011, less than two hours after detonating a deadly car-bomb, and having already killed eight people in Oslo, the remorseless Norwegian far-right terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, boarded the ferry MS Thorbjørn in Lake Tyri. As the shocking news of the devastating Oslo explosion was starting to reach the ears of the unsuspecting teenagers of the Workers' Youth League summer camp on the remote island of Utøya, the loud, sharp, and blood-curdling sound of Anders' first gunshots could only mean one thing: death. Now, for the next long and nightmarish seventy minutes, eighteen-year-old Kaja, her younger sister, Emilie, and approximately six-hundred young participants will find themselves drawn into a violent maelstrom of destruction, as Breivik, with cold-blooded precision, injures hundreds, and kills sixty-nine boys and girls. Will the world ever forget July 22, 2011, and the atrocious Utøya massacre?

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Plot Keywords:

based on real events | shot in real time | year 2011 | single take | island | 

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Taglines:

Based on true events

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

22 July (2018) is another fictionalized version of the same real life events depicted in documentaries such as Norway Massacre: The Killer's Mind (2011), Seconds from Disaster: Norway Massacre: I Was There (2012), Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer: Anders Breivik (2015), This World: Norway's Massacre (2012), En liten øy i verden (2012), I Survived...: The Norway Massacre: Sofie/Adrian/Magnus/Rebekka (2012) and 22.07 (2012).

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Quotes

Kaja: I need to find my sister...

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Connections

Referenced in Estrenos Críticos: Julio 2019 (2019)

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Soundtracks

True Colors
Written by Tom Kelly & Billy Steinberg
Performed by Andrea Berntzen
Kaja and Magnus are hiding from the shooter, when she tells him she sings in a choir. He asks her to sing something for him.

User Reviews

"You'll never understand"

I'd already watched Paul Greengrass' film 22 July. Despite Utoya July 22 being about the same atrocity, you could not get 2 different films. Whilst Greengrass gave Brevik a platform and invited viewers to try and comprehend his actions, perhaps in an attempt to learn and move on, Erik Poppe's Utoya instead focuses entirely on the victims - the young Labour Party members camping on the island. In a poignant start to the film, the main lead, Kaja, looks directly into the camera and says "you'll never understand" (it turns out she's talking to her mum on the phone).

There is some debate as to whether either of these films should've been made at all. As harrowing as they are, I think they both have their place in trying to enhance our understanding of the horror of terrorist attacks such as these.

In a very clever piece of technical direction, it looks like the film is shot 'live' in one single take to mirror the horror of the 72 minutes of the young people's terrifying ordeal, whilst Brevik was attacking them.

Did I enjoy the film? No. Am I pleased I watched it? Yes. Would I recommend it? Most certainly. Does it, along with Greengrass' July 22, enhance our understanding? The jury's out. 7 out of ten

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

Norway

Language:

Norwegian English

Release Date:

9 March 2018 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Utøya: July 22

Filming Locations:

Oslo, Norway

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,738,618

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paradox Film 7, Paradox, MEDIA Programme of the European Union

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16 : 9