Review #678: 'The Hunt' (2012)

After garnering attention and acclaim from critics and art-house fans alike with his debut Festen (1998), things didn't pan out for Danish director Thomas Vinterberg as most people expected. He had a number of flops that passed by without anyone taking notice, and it seemed like the co-founder of the Dogme 95 movement was destined to be a one hit wonder. However, he hit back in 2012 with Jagten, or The Hunt, a powerful study of hysteria in a small town that was nominated for the Palme d'Or and took home Best Actor for lead Mads Mikkelsen.

It tells the story of teacher-by-trade Lucas (Mikkelsen) who is working for a local kindergarten school after the closure of his school. He is a quiet, lonely man living in the house he once lived in with his wife and son. He has his close friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen), the father of Klara (Annika Wedderkopp) who is in Lucas's kindergarten group, and the two regularly go on hunting expeditions with a circle of heavy-drinking friends. Things are looking good for Lucas when he begins to date co-worker Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport), until the confused Klara tells another teacher that Lucas exposed himself to her and possibly molested her.

To avoid falling into the did-he-or-didn't-he category, Vinterberg wisely cements Lucas's innocence from the off, making The Hunt less a thriller and more of a serious study of small-town mentality and the rapid spread of mass hysteria. People whom Lucas once shared drinks with as friends quickly turn a simple, albeit dangerous, lie, into paranoid and sheer panic. Pamphlets are handed out to parents detailing signs of sexual abuse - nightmares, crying - things you would generally expect children to do anyway, but when faced with leading questions, the children are understandably confused about the facts and are willing to go with what their parents obviously believe.

Nobody seems to confront the fact that sometimes children lie, and even when Lucas's case is dismissed by police due to an overwhelming lack of evidence, he is still a predatory paedophile in other people's eyes and is isolated by the townsfolk. Mikkelsen, who will be familiar to most English-speaking audiences as the bad guy from Casino Royale (2006) and as Hannibal Lecter in the TV series Hannibal, gives an excellent, nuanced performance, who is at first confused and outraged, and later full of anger and contempt. This is very much an actor's film, with Vinterberg using a calm, hand-held camera to avoid intruding on the story. This film will leave you uncomfortable and frustrated, no doubt, but this is an important and powerful film about the dangers of witch-hunt mentality and condemning people as guilty until proven innocent.


Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Alexandra Rapaport
Country: Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie