Netflix has released an official trailer for writer/director Paul Greengrass' docudrama, 22 July. The movie tells the real-life story of the 2011 Norway attacks, which were carried out by right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik and resulted in the deaths of 77 people total - making it the deadliest terrorist attack in the country's history.
After setting off a car bomb attack in Oslo that resulted in the deaths of eight people on (as the title implies) July 22, 2011, Breivik gunned down 69 people who were participating in a Workers' Youth League (or AUF) summer camp for teenagers, on the island of Utøya. Greengrass' film explores Breivik's attack from multiple perspectives, but unfolds primarily from the point of view of a survivor from his assault on the AUF camp.
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22 July will have its world premiere at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival tomorrow (September 5, at the time of writing), before it hits select theaters (for Oscars qualification) and begins streaming through Netflix in the first half of October. Check out the trailer in the space below:
While Greengrass is best known for directing three of the five Bourne movies released to date (starting with 2004's The Bourne Supremacy), he has a long and decorated history when it comes to docudrama fare. Since he made the transition from being a journalist to a full-time filmmaker, Greengrass has developed movies about the Irish civil rights protest massacre of 1972 (Bloody Sunday), one of the hijacked planes during the 9/11 terrorist attack in the U.S. (United 93), and the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates (Captain Phillips).
Judging by the trailer, 22 July is cut from the same cloth as Greengrass' previous true story drama-thrillers and should offer a similarly unflinching look at the real world horrors of the 2011 Norway attack. Authenticity has always been vital to the filmmaker's docudrama efforts and that will remain the case with 22 July - a film that features not only an all-Norwegian cast, but even Norwegian crew members like cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth (The Snowman).
Beyond that, it will be interesting to see how 22 July fares among this year's awards season contenders. Netflix already has one serious pony in the race for next year's Oscars ceremony, thanks to Alfonso Cuarón's semi-autobiography Roma (which earned raves from the critics who saw it at the VIFF last week). Greengrass has only received a single Academy Award nomination to date (for directing United 93), so he's arguably due for some recognition from the Academy, at this point in his career. Whether or not he gets it for 22 July, however, is another matter.
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Source: Netflix
