22 July

"22 July" tells the story of gun violence that happened in Norway.

In the film, all of the leaders of the country are meeting with the Prime Minister; the children of these government officials are at a sleep-away camp on a nearby island.

The violence was perpetrated by a lone gunman, portrayed as a Nationalist, alt-right, xenophobic young man. Over seventy people were murdered that day, with hundreds more injured.

The beginning of the film shows the gunman's every move, first detonating a bomb at the Prime Minister's offices as a diversion, then traveling to the camp to murder the children of the government officials. The film is astonishingly real, with children running for their lives from the gunman. Every American who has lost someone to gun violence, or has seen stories of massacres on the national news, will find these images at once startling and all too familiar.

The movie also showcases the story of a survivor of the attack how his life will never be the same. It shows his recovery, the post-traumatic stress he suffers, and what survivors families go through after such an attack.

Not for the faint of heart, now streaming on Netflix, 5 stars.