[2] Most of the film consists of a single take, shot in real time,[3] and follows the character Kaja from the third-person perspective before and throughout the 72-minute attack.

Kaja is attending a Labour Party summer camp on Utøya with her younger sister Emilie.

On 22 July, participants receive news that a bomb has exploded in the Government quarter in Oslo, but they believe they are safe as long as they are on an island, away from the city.

At first, most campers attempt to hide in the camp's main building while loudly crying and screaming, but then they run away to the nearby forest.

A small boat is seen in the distance, and Magnus tries to convince Kaja to go with him, but she gets shot by the terrorist and falls to the ground.

It ends with a warning that the far right is on the rise, and that there is growing support for the terrorist's political beliefs and enemy image.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Utøya: July 22 probes a nation's lingering shock and grief with a drama that grapples with difficult themes to deeply - and appropriately - unsettling effect.