@nkanemo said:

In particular I am referring to the part where Kaja is shot and killed on the beach. Was it really necessary? Could it have worked better another way? I understand they had survivors consulting them to make it feel as accurate as possible but at the same time it is a fictional scenario with fictional characters. There were also siblings that survived that tragedy. I felt like watching it you're hoping Kaja gets through it all and finds her sister. The positive outcome of their reunion could've had a greater impact in regards to the ideas of persevering, and moving on in strength and unity... in contrast to having her killed off for the rather cheap shock factor.

I also found the ending dissatisfying and think that the way how the movie presents Kaja being killed is very badly execurted and aims purely for the shock value (in the Berlinale version, we didn't even stay with Kaja in her final moments, instead switching to Magnus and his shock, which completely destroys the narrative. Luckily the cinema eversion averts this.. However, there are multiple points why Kaja dying was by itself a good decision:

• Aufzählungs-Text
• Almost none of those who died managed to relay their last thoughts and feelings before their deaths (compare the scene with the wounded girl), compared to the many many accounts of those who survived. Survivors also had lots of voices in documentaries ("Safest place in the world", "I survived - the utoya massacre"), and in reportages. Yet it are (obviously) the dead who suffered most and whose fates, including what they felt and did before their deaths, are most important. So the stories of survivors (many of whom survived by sheer luck - the bullet missed them by inches of the wound turned non-fatal) are given to those who were less fortunate. By the way there was a girl at Utoya who was shot the way Kaja was. The girl actually survived.
• The screenwriter explicitely stated during the interview that the film represent a tragedy in the classical Geek sense - charachters suffering horribly for having minor flaws / not being able to rise to the circumstances. What typically happens in the end of a tragedy? Main Charachter dies.
• To elaborate on the previous point, many Utoya victims were indeed injured or killed for behaving in non-optimal way - many of the victims chose inadequate hiding, and when discovered just stayed in place waiting to be shot, not even trying to run away. This was particularly sad for victims of so-called South-end shooting which is what the final shooting spree is supposed to represent. Several of people there could actuzally swim very well, but remained on land until the last moment and consequently not all of them managed to swim far enough out before being shot. Others have run away from the killer time and again, but had abandoned all hope by then and remained in place, consequently being killed or injured, not knowng that the police had *already * arrived on the island and if they had run one more time, they'd be safe. It was very important to show that those weren't just idiots or responsible for their fate, but that this was a natural outcome of having to run for life for so long (72 minutes is very long for a shooting, and it was the police's fault for taking so long.) So the film shows exactily how Kaja goes from clever and levelheaded, to a wrack that doen't care whether she lives or dies. , and how her death is a product of this.
• Finally, the viewers always assotiate themselves with the main charachter. the death of the wounded girl or the little boy didn't touch the viewer the way Kaja's death does. The film reminds that absolutely nobody is safe in such situation. In general, people like stories about those who survived against all odds, but the like stories of victims who died much less. So the film deliberately gives us no cushion of thinking "if Kaja survived this, I can too."

What I did wish from the film was for Kaja's death to be more significant, to succeed at saving at least one person before her death. Realistically, she should be able to save at least someone. My personal favourite is an imagined scene where during the boat escape sequence, the shooter appears and Kaja, not yet dead, grapples with him, giving the boat time to escape. As it stands, the film sends the message that trying to care for others in a critical situation will only get you killed, without having actually helped anyone, which leaves a sour taste, especially in a world where the mindset "I've got mine (survival, success, prosperity), screw everybody else" is growing.