22 July (2018)

Whilst a powerful retelling of a horrific tragedy, the omittance of certain details is problematic - 22 July review by Timmy B

Paul Greengrass's name has become the byword for immaculately crafted, incredibly filmed & exquisitely acted reconstructions of horrific world events. United 93, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence & Captain Phillips are out-and-out masterpieces, for me in many ways the purest adrenaline hit of cinema (and don't for a second think I have missed out on The Bourne Supremacy; this review is about his dramatisations of real-world events.) But something else which sets Greengrass's work apart is his insistence on trying to, especially with Captain Phillips, look closer at the perpetrators & their lives. And this pays dividends when compared with so much of the Hollywood machine, which just relentlessly churns out "The good guys won..." And the reason I mention this is because of the glaring omission, which I will come to, with 22 July.

The film looks at the terrorist attacks in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, a far-right Neo-Nazi, on 22nd July 2011. First detonating a powerful truck bomb in Oslo outside the Prime Minister's office, he then drives to Utøya island, which is hosting a summer camp for young adults for the Labour party, whose policies & view Breivik totally abhors. He slaughters & maims almost 100 party members, before surrendering to police. From there, the film takes us inside the legal process as well as the healing of the victims, mainly through the eyes of Viljar Hanssen, one of the most popular & idealistic young men, who is horrifically injured in the shooting.

The tension in this film, from the early scenes of Breivik making his bombs, intercut with the young adults arriving on Utøya for what they think will be a weekend of activism & fun, are flawless Greengrass. The coldness & precision of one contrasted with the carefree of the other is where this film maker excels. One early shot, of Breivik's luminous (and ironically chosen) bright white van driving through the vast dense forests of Norway, is a perfect metaphor for how Breivik sees himself. Greengrass is also excellent at making the massacre gripping without ever lowering it to gratuitousness, or a shock-value action scene. As the film was not being made for a 12A rating, the sudden & shocking violence was extremely jarring.

When the film changes gear and then becomes a tense court room drama, whilst the action scenes are over, the pressure doesn't let up. Breivik's lawyer, who was specifically chosen by him, then has to balance his client's wishes with his absolute horror for his actions. The film does allow a couple of moments where the legal & professional mask slips, which again are real gut-punches, but which are delivered with quiet devastation rather than screamed or shouted.

But the main reason this film gets 4 stars is due to something which Greengrass may not have intentionally done, but which for me is a deliberate & gross manipulation of the narrative: there are a couple of scenes which try to build a picture of how Breivik became this inhuman monster, including interviewing his mother. What the script totally avoids is the revelation that Breivik's mother was an absolute monster who psychologically & relentlessly abused him from the moment he was born, as revealed by multiple news stories. In 22 July, she is simply presented as a well-meaning & doddery mother who sits in her flat watching TV, playing no part in how her son was. That to me was really uncomfortable & also a rare moment where Greengrass does not fully reveal the truths, when normally his films are insistent upon it.

Cast-wise, we are again in brilliant territory. Gravli, as Viljar, has a real earthly quality to his performance, perfectly matched against Lie's cold psychotic Breivik. And in what can sometimes be a thankless role, Øigarden as Lippestad (Breivik's lawyer,) is the person who in the midst of the horrors, keeps a cool head as well as showing what has to be the case for everyone: a fair trial in a court of law.