Utøya – July 22

Unfolding in real time in a single, devastating 72-minute take, Erik Poppe delivers a harrowing reconstruction of the massacre of 69 young people by Anders Behring Breivik.

After exploding a bomb in a government building on 22 July 2011, far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik took his murderous attack to the heart of Norway: a youth summer camp on Utøya island. With the victims unable to escape, his murder spree took just over an hour, leaving hundreds injured alongside the dead. Through meticulous interviews with survivors, Poppe has created composite characters for this drama. These include 18-year-old Kaja, whom the camera ceaselessly follows as she attempts to hide from Breivik, marshalling and bringing some small comfort to younger children, even as she searches for her own missing sister.

Utøya – July 22 isn’t easy viewing, but it’s a lucid, critical reminder of the tremendous cost of mass tragedy and a powerful memorial to its young survivors, who refused to let Breivik kill their ideals.