22 July Review
A dramatization of a huge event that rocked not only my world in terms of true crime, but also the world of Norway’s people.
On the 22nd of July Anders Behring Breivik set off a bunch of bombs in Oslo that killed eight people. Now this would be huge news by itself as a terrorist attack, but then this man went on to an island where a group of youths were staying and camping and proceeded to gun them down in a huge mass shooting.
This film captures every moment of this incident from it happening to its trial afterwards and everything that happened beyond. It was so fascinating to watch, my heart was beating 100 miles a minute during the island scene, and to think that the murderer got such easy access to the island by impersonating a police officer is absolutely insane to think about and shows that more checks need to be done in times of high risk.
As you watch the film it feels as if every moment is happening in real time. You see the children trying to fight for their lives as they see their friends being gunned down around them. It’s absolutely terrifying and it’s one of the only film adaptations of a mass shooting that has really shook me to the core, I could put myself in their shoes and I can’t even begin to imagine what I would’ve done, it was utterly terrifying.
Unfortunately the second half of the film where we get into the trial of everything that happened was a bit slower for me. I feel the tension was so high at the beginning that when you got to this point it became a bit dull. Of course if you’re into the whole law side of these sorts of things then you would really enjoy it, but for me, the actual tension of it happening is so much more profound to me than everything that happens afterwards. I will quite happily just watch the first half of this film and then have a summary of what happened afterwards rather than have to watch it almost in two parts.
This film is brilliantly done and keeps you on the edge of your seat and really makes you feel for the people within it, and for the real victims of the gunmen too. I can’t imagine in those last moments how terrified they must’ve been.
What do you think of the film?
Until next time.
Moving Picture Review 