Utøya: July 22, also known as U – July 22, is a 2018 Norwegian single-camera drama film directed by Erik Poppe and written by Anna Bache-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen. It is based on the Utøya summer camp massacre that took place on 22 July 2011, but the characters are fictional. The purpose of Utøya: July 22 is to promote understanding of the victims by showing the massacre from their perspective. The film was created in close dialogue with over 40 survivors, to get the action as close to reality as possible. It was shot to resemble a single take in real time, and follows the character Kaja from the third-person perspective before and throughout the 72-minute attack. The terrorist is a figure in the periphery throughout the film, and is only briefly seen two times.
Plot
Kaja attends a Labour Partysummer camp on Utøya with her younger sister Emilie. On 22 July, participants receive news that a bomb has exploded in the Government quarter in Oslo but believe they are safe as long as they are on an island, away from the city. Soon, gunshots are heard, and the campers quickly disperse as it becomes clear that it is not a drill. At first, most campers attempt to hide in the camp's main building while loudly crying and screaming, but then they run away to the nearby forest. While hiding behind trees, Kaja and her friends call 112, and the police claim to be on the way. The others agree to run for the water so they can swim to safety, but Kaja runs back towards the camp to look for Emilie. Kaja finds a boy named Tobias, whom she convinces to run into the forest. When Kaja is unable to find Emilie in their tent, she runs back into the forest to find her. Kaja comes across a young girl who has been shot and tries to comfort her. Smoke grenades fill the forest, and the girl dies just as her mother calls her. Kaja finds Magnus, a new camper she had met earlier in the day, with two other campers along the shoreline of the island. Magnus tries to defuse the situation and tell jokes to brighten the mood, but the other two do not take it lightly. Later, they see a large number of campers running in the lake, and the other two campers abandon Kaja and Magnus. Kaja and Magnus discuss what they want to be when they grow up; Kaja wants to be Norway's prime minister, and Magnus an actor. After a close encounter with the shooter, Kaja goes out to find her sister again. Once on the beach, she discovers bodies scattered along the shoreline, including that of Tobias. As Magnus catches up to her, Kaja breaks down. A small boat is seen in the distance, and Magnus tries to convince Kaja to go with him, but she gets shot by the terrorist and falls to the ground. She cries out for Magnus and gets shot again, this time fatally. The perspective then switches to that of Magnus, as he runs for and reaches the boat with other survivors. As the boat sails away from the island, Magnus tearfully breaks down. It is revealed Emilie is also on the boat and is trying to help a seriously injured person. The screen turns to black. We hear the boat reaching land, and the cries and screams of the survivors. A text-based epilogue then lists the number of casualties, and describes the terrorist's motivations. It ends with a warning that the far right is on the rise, and that there is growing support for the terrorist's political beliefs and.
