The Hunt (2012) Review

With directors like Lars von Trier, Nicholas Winding Refn and Thomas Vinterberg, Danish cinema has really become one of the more interesting countries within film. Vinterberg, who was a part of the Dogme 95 project and is most best known internationally for his film Festen, makes another big splash internationally, more then ten years later.

The Hunt is a film about how easily it is to turn a community on it´s head and how a little lie can ruin one mans life, and a study of our ability to frantically overreact. Lucas works in a kindergarten and he is well liked by the kids, while on his free time hunting and bonding with his friends (got kind of a Deerhunter vibe). However one day he is wrongly accused of a horrific crime, making everyone turn on him and even get violent on him.

At it´s heart I would call it drama, however Vinterberg managed to create this unbearable tension, constantly rising throughout the film. Lucas gets treated so badly throughout this film that as the film progresses; the audience sit there worrying how that something bad will happen in every scene. The thing is that Vinterberg has managed to make this completely unpredictable and so we never know how a scene, that might seem nice, will eventually turn out.

It is actually a very draining film to watch, all the bad things happening to Lucas really do hurt and it is impossible to sympathize with him. However about halfway through the movie (and this isn’t a spoiler) I started to think to myself, “wait… how do I know he didn’t actually do it?” because the audience don’t really get shown that he doesn’t do it, it seems like the most logical explanation that he didn’t do it, but there is no proof presented to us that he didn’t. When this thought popped in my head, I really got stressed out, thinking what if he got us to sympathize so much with this man, because if he really was guilty I would say he deserved what happens to him. I´m not sure this is something that everyone necessarily thinks of, but I think Vinterberg does want us to doubt him, creating more rising tension in the film.

Now like I mentioned earlier, the viewer is bound to strongly sympathize for Lucas, however in the end you realize that there is no one you can blame and while Lucas is the one who gets his life ruined, I found myself sympathizing with ruining it to a certain degree. There is no way for them to know that he is not guilty, everything points in that direction and so their reaction is pretty much how I think anyone would react and so you do fully understand why they treat him like this. Even the person lying about his crime is in end easy to sympathize because you also understand why the person lied. And so what Vinterberg has so expertly crafted is a man vs. society thriller, with no real villain, and I think this really contributed to making me feel this could very well happen in real life and it probably does.

The acting in the film is nothing short of superb. Mads Mikkelsen just keeps on impressing me and is really one of the most underrated actors in the world. Everything from his anxious body language, to the love for his son, to his drunken depression, make this possibly one of his best performances ever. Also great is Thomas Bo Larsen as his best friend which is heartbreakingly forced to turn against his best friend for what he has, and I found his performance very strong and touching. The film also uses the situation they are in to explore the trust between two friends, which works because of how good these two actors are. The biggest surprise however is the girl playing Bo Larsen´s character´s daughter, who forms a friendship of sorts with Lucas, and this girl is probably 5-7, but she was truly terrific in the film.

One last thing that has to be mentioned is the cinematography. I was unsure if it was going to be very handheld, because of his Dogme background, and while he did fittingly use handheld at times, it was really more about beautifully framed, still shots. Close-ups were used sparingly in the film, however I felt every time they were used were so perfect and character-reflective, something that I rarely get the sense of in films.

Vinterberg has created a truly great film, one that will get in your head, send chills down your spine, while draining you. It is not necessarily hugely enjoyable, but it is immensely interesting, thrilling and well made.

5/5