Greengrass has once again composed a gripping, sometimes unbearably stressful re-creation of horror, so true to life that the "why" of it all is just as inscrutable as life itself.
If Anders Behring Breivik represents today's West at its self-devouring worst, the movie wants us to see that Viljar's endurance offers a reason for hope.
Greengrass previously excelled at depicting events that overwhelmed individuals; in "22 July," he demonstrates how one deluded zealot can shake an entire country.
Greengrass gives "22 July" everything he's got. The filmmaking is vigorous, with a constantly moving and sometimes jittery camera, and the social purpose is worthy and unmistakably sincere.
Greengrass' other films in this tradition are interested in how human beings react in the face of unimaginable horror. 22 July is only interested in itself and all of its verite draping can't obscure its underlying, speechifying hokum.
