Description:
A single-take reconstruction of the infamous massacre of sixty-nine junior members of the Norwegian social-democratic Labour Party, U - July 22 is a supreme example of radical cinema, featuring astoundingly acute on-screen naturalism and documentary drama.
On 22 July 2011, five hundred young people are attending a summer camp on the island of Utoya. The camera follows 19-year-old Kaja who is spending a few days of the holiday there with her younger sister Emilie. But the carefree camping suddenly turns into a cold-blooded massacre. Unsuspecting children and teens are attacked by a heavily armed right-wing extremist who, shortly beforehand, has exploded a car bomb killing eight people in the centre of Oslo.
"Back home, there have been a lot of discussions on various aspects of 22 July 2011, technical matters like the reconstruction of the government building in Oslo that was destroyed, where to have a memorial to the victims, and the perpetrator of the massacre has taken many opportunities to get media attention, by complaining about his life in prison, etc. This has taken the focus away from what really happened that day. We need to get the ownership of these events back to the victims. Therefore, I wanted to tell the story from the point of view of the youngsters who survived, and their relatives." (Erik Poppe)
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