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The director of "United 93" gives a voice to the 77 victims of the tragedy, and it is worth hearing.
The title is both a warning and a memorial. The "July 22" may not have as much visceral weight among US viewers as "United 93", but this will certainly be the case in Norway. This is the date, a little over seven years ago, when Anders Behring Breivik killed eight people in a van explosion targeting downtown Oslo before shooting down another 69 at a summer camp on the island. neighboring island of Utøya. If this does not sound like a fun topic for a movie, it's not – but Paul Greengrass has a cautious approach that gives voice to those who have definitely lost theirs.
Both a continuation and a departure from the director's iconic aesthetic, the filmmaker's latest documentary is a film in which Europeans speak accentuated English rather than their native language and claim themselves in a way that their real-world counterparts probably do not have. Beyond these minor transgressions, the "July 22" shows an immersive view of a form of violence that is likely to become common; Greengrass is even giving up the controversial cam in favor of more stable compositions and longer shots.
Anders Danielsen Lie, so well in the "Oslo, August 31" of Joachim Trier, is the deadliest as a killer in question. With his chubby beard and his illusions of grandeur, he is supposedly a commander in a war against what he calls "forced multiculturalism" and the dissolution of European identity. It would not be out of place at some rallies or marches here in the United States, but Greengrass makes no effort to link this tragedy to our current political climate; the connection is clear in itself.
The massacre itself is fortunately brief, taking place largely in real time on about twenty of the 143 minutes of the film. Greengrass does not insist or dwell on violence; he does not abstract it either, as Gus Van Sant did in "Elephant".
It's never free, but sometimes it's more like a re-enactment than a contribution to our collective understanding. Greengrass, whose kinetic approach has long favored vagueness above all, is so focused on the fact that, for the first part of the film, he does not try to understand why.
The film finds something of a protagonist in Viljar Hanssen (Jonas Strand Gravli), a teenager who survives a shot in the head and whose recovery accounts for much of the second half. In this way, "July 22" eventually appears to something like "stronger" as Greengrass's "United 93", expanding its scope beyond the attack to examine the physical consequences , emotional and national of a singular tragedy. .
Although deeply felt and inspiring, this dynamic is ultimately less convincing than that of Geir Lippestad (Jon Øigarden), the lawyer who feels compelled to represent Breivik to the best of his abilities but who hates his client clearly and silently. In a sense, it almost represents Greengrass's vision of Norway in a microcosm: tolerant, kind and resolutely against Breivik's tastes. ("I think I lost my soul in this case," said Lippestad's true pre-trial. "I hope to get it back once everything is over – and it will be in the same state as before." . ")
A country of unparalleled beauty, which ranks among the most peaceful in the world, the Scandinavian nation has given its fair share to the insane sons whose outbursts of public violence have changed their faces (see also the scandals of metal of the early 90s). which are narrated in the next "Lords of Chaos"). "He's right, though, is not it?" Breivik's mother tells Lippestad after refusing to testify on behalf of her son in one of the film's most revealing scenes. "The way the country is going, it's not like before." "July 22" does not hide its political underpinnings, but Breivik, his 1,500-page manifesto, which he sent to the media shortly before his Spree assassination, criticized the "cultural suicide" represented by the immigration and multiculturalism.
Although full of anger and sorrow, the film is more than just a screed. The docu-real aesthetic of Greengrass does not allow grandiosity even if it yields to heavier impulses. He is sometimes on a platform, but his message deserves to be heard.
Category B
"July 22" world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Netflix will publish it on October 19th.
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