20 Foreign Language Movies You Must See Before You Die
17. Utoya: July 22
Country: Norway.
Plot: A real-time, one-take re-enactment of the massacre on Utoya Island during the 2011 Norway Attacks. The film uses fictional characters but survivors were closely involved in production.
Many foreign movies, since they lack the publicity that English language films get, don't get the attention they deserve. There are plenty of sad examples of this, but this 2018 Norwegian drama is maybe the most unjust case of the last few years.
This was, understandably, a controversial project but it's a genuinely fantastic, technically brilliant work that serves as both a bittersweet, haunting reminder of the lives lost that day and a chilling warning of the growing threat from far-right terrorists.
It's a devastating, unbearably intense and utterly terrifying cinematic representation of a horrific national tragedy filled with shattering (yet never manipulative or exploitative) emotional drama and outstanding performances from a cast of unknown actors. Particularly noteworthy is lead actress Andrea Berntzen, whose stunning performance is honestly better than any of the Oscar-nominated performances by actresses from 2018 (as great as they all were).
Overall, this movie is a reminder of how much great foreign cinema slips under the radar each year and Utoya really deserves to be more widely viewed.