Film Review: July 22

"I Still Have Hope, Dreams, Family and Friends. And I Choose To Live..."

Based upon Åsne Seierstad's 2015 book, One of Us, a biographical account of the shocking 2011 Norway terror attacks carried out by lone wolf and far-right extremist, Anders Behring Breivik, director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) returns with yet another intense and powerful cinematic adaptation of true events in the form of 22 July following on from the critically acclaimed one-two of United 93 and Captain Phillips in 2006 and 2013 respectively. Released simultaneously within a select amount of theatres and streaming exclusively and nationwide on the Netflix platform, Greengrass' latest is a stark, relentless and brilliantly acted attempt at highlighting on the one hand the sadistic, evilness of terror, and on the other, the power of unity and strength within a community riddled with tragedy and extreme loss, and whilst 22 July contains elements which rank up there with the most intelligent, albeit harrowing, works of cinema produced by Greengrass thus far in his rather exceptional back catalogue, the film as a whole fails to handle the subject matter with enough conviction to really scratch the surface of understanding the purpose of such despicable acts or the lingering effect it had on the wider populous, a particularly aggravating weakness considering such themes are ones the Greengrass undeniably knows how to convey when dealing with such tragic, contemporary events. 

With an agonsing and exceptionally difficult opening act in which we observe in documentary-like style the plans of Anders Behring Breivik fall into place, Greengrass chooses not to hide away from the violence carried out but also thankfully slides away from falling into the trap of over-sensationalising it too, with the first forty minutes at times simply unbearable as the camera follows Anders Danielsen Lie's (Personal Shopper) portrayal of Breivik as he increasingly and coldly murders his way through innocent lives in order to satisfy his political beliefs. After releasing the audience from the clutches of terror come the hour mark, the remaining ninety minutes is spent observing key characters in the events leading up to Breivik's trial, ranging from Jonas Strand Gravli's wounded young survivor to Jon Øigarden's portrayal of Geir Lippestad, the lawyer tasked with defending Breivik, and whilst Greengrass attempts at balancing the narrative to focus on the wider effect of Breivik's actions, the pacing and lack of depth results in the movie unfortunately sliding into a manner which can only be described as overly procedural and shockingly, rather plodding. Where the movie does ultimately work however is in the emotive-laden set pieces and concentration on the singular rather than the many, particularly a concluding court speech from Gravli's broken terror victim, and whilst Greengrass carries out the drama in efficient means, for a movie verging on two and a half hours worth of storytelling, July 22 struggles to justify such enormities and fails to hold the sheer starkness of a simply masterful opening act. 

Overall Score: 7/10