Jagten (The Hunt) - GUEST POST

Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Annika Wedderkopp

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Written by Thomas Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm

Have you ever been accused of doing something that you know you didn’t do? Have you ever felt the cold, pitiful, disgusted stares directed at you simply for walking into a crowded room? Or, putting it another way, have you ever accused anyone else of doing something - without proof - and without thinking about the effects it can have on their life? Bold questions to start a review with, sure; but these become even more profound in the hands of a director as visually and narratively attuned as Thomas Vinterberg is in 2011’s Jagten (The Hunt).

Mads Mikkelsen is Lucas, a teacher forced to take a job at a kindergarten after his school closed. Divorcee, father to a teenage son, friend to many in his small Danish community, and unjustly accused by his best friend’s small daughter of molesting her, his once serene life is quickly upended by the hysteria that follows. The common, relatable life he leads is filled with such warmth that by the time the movie winds down 111 minutes later, you cannot help but literally despise the very place that sucks you in so convincingly in the first act.

And this is the main ‘problem’ with writing a review for The Hunt. How do you reflect on a film that is so unrelenting, so utterly bleak - that literally makes you feel sick to the stomach to watch - and still find positive things to say about it? In no small way is it due to Vinterberg’s maturity as a filmmaker. Gone is the forced ‘realism’ of the Dogme-95 movement that he founded with Lars von Trier; in it’s place is a sumptuously close style of filmmaking that is more authentic than The Celebration ever could be. Kudos must also be reserved for cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen. Together, these two make the material so welcoming to look at that it becomes more bearable to watch. The real hero (unsurprisingly) is Mikkelsen, delivering what has to be his best performance to date. The Jury at Cannes clearly agreed, awarding him 2012’s Best Actor award for his profoundly real turn as the tortured soul who takes this film from good to great, all the while making it look like - forgive the pun - child’s play.

The film isn’t without flaws though. Holes in the plot, which other critics have drawn attention to in their reviews, manage to take the film’s impact down a notch. Lucas’ failure to call for legal assistance immediately beggars belief, as does his decision not to cut off all contact with his child-accuser and her family. These don’t cripple the film, but they certainly hold it back from being an entirely taut piece of cinema. It is hard to say whether this was all intentional, designed to play up Lucas’ own naivety, or simply a narrative misstep. Either way, it is jarring enough to distract you from an otherwise tidy tale.

The Hunt is not the first movie to make us look at how quick we are to judge others unreasonably. However, unlike the pretentiously unsatisfying Doubt (dir. John Patrick Shanley, 2009) which traversed similar territory, this latest offering from Thomas Vinterberg is a gripping, marvelous piece of cinema that manages to rub every raw nerving ending and eviscerate any hope for a happy ending that festers in a viewer more accustomed to syracuse-laden Burbank offings available at the mega-cinemas down the road.

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My sincere thanks to guest reviewer, Clark Hennessy, for taking my tickets to The Hunt off my hands and then showing me up by being a better reviewer ...