‘22 July’ Review: Paul Greengrass Shows Powerful Resilience in the Face of Far-Right Terror | TIFF 2018
Although Paul Greengrass has dealt with real-world violence before, specifically in his movies Bloody Sunday , United 93 , and Captain Phillips , his new film, 22 July , is the first time he has explored the aftermath of an attack. You get the sense from the film that Greengrass recognizes we’re in a new moment in history (before today’s screening at TIFF, he noted that we are living in “unprecedented times”) where the far right is on the rise throughout the Western world, and so he needs a different kind of movie to meet this moment. It’s not enough to simply show the particulars of a terrorist act; we must also recognize how to deal with the fallout. As always, Greengrass does not shy away from the brutality and evil of terrorism, but 22 July unflinchingly looks at how extremists may sit in smug satisfaction, but they will never have the strength of those who fight for what’s good in this world. The first half-hour of 22 July is deeply difficult to watch as Greengrass s