
On July 22, 2011, a right-wing extremist attacked several hundred young people who were attending a summer camp sponsored by the Workers' Youth League. Sixty-nine of them did not survive the rampage. Norwegian director Erik Poppe returns to the tragedy in order to see it through the eyes of the unsuspecting campers, who had to fight for their lives for a chaotic and interminable seventy minutes.
"Shot entirely in a single long-take and possessed by a you-are-there verisimilitude that's capable of reincarnating a grim tragedy as a gripping entertainment, the film has the power to make our bodies catch up with our hearts - the power to help us safely experience the kind of terror we need to remember in a way that makes it impossible for us to forget." (IndieWire)
"The 2011 massacre caused by a right-wing extremist on the Norwegian island of Utøya, not far from Oslo, is reconstructed from the victims' point of view in this harrowing drama. The carnage lasted for a staggering 72 minutes, and director Erik Poppe lets events unfold in real time as he focuses on his constantly running and hiding lead, 19-year-old Kaja, and her friends and fellow camp mates who all attended the same political summer gathering for young people on that fateful day. Acted with striking naturalism by its cast of unknowns, the film is also formally impressive, as it is constructed to look like a single shot, giving viewers the impression they are one of the teens' peers." (The Hollywood Reporter)