Reconstructing Utøya

The documentary takes up the attack on the island of Utøya. The attack happened in 2011. There were about five hundred young people on the island. Sixty nine were killed. The film begins after the event. Four survivors are at the centre of the account. They reconstruct what they remember. That work is done in a black box studio. Twelve young participants are with them. The set is marked out with tape. The tape shows the outlines of buildings, the woods and the shore. The sound of gunfire is made by striking a railing with a metal rod. What happened that day is told step by step this way. Carl Javér’s Danish, Norwegian and Swedish coproduction of 2018 runs ninety one minutes.