Drama Pick: The Hunt (2012)
Mads Mikkelsen’s new movie, Age of the Uprising, came out last week – unfortunately, it wasn’t that great. So, thanks to Netflix’s very broad Drama section, I can happily recommend to you his finest work: a Danish film by Thomas Vinterberg called The Hunt.
Set in a small Danish community, The Hunt explores themes of mass hysteria, loss of innocence and the relativity of truth by focusing on what happens when a well-respected kindergarten teacher (Mikkelsen) is falsely accused of sexual misconduct by an immature pupil. Of course, the allegation is absolutely untrue, but the lie spreads like a disease through the town, turning people against him. The teacher’s relationships, career and very life are thrown into jeopardy as the people he once called friends unite against him.
Mikkelsen is absolutely superb as the teacher, inflecting every line with electrifying passion and stunning dramatic pathos. His is a highly physical performance, and an extremely difficult one to balance, but he pulls it off. The supporting cast, from his young accuser to the assorted townspeople, is also terrific.
The Hunt is a difficult film, but it’s also a deeply compelling one. As I said in my original review, it starts out slow, introducing a peaceful small-town setting but all the while quietly building a sinister tension that pervades every frame. At first, the sense of impending doom is dismissible, but the genius of Vinterberg’s gentle direction and the film’s perfectly paced script is that the dread creeps over you, slowly but surely, until you feel as petrified and powerless as the film’s protagonist.
By the time The Hunt arrived at its heartbreaking, thought-provoking conclusion, I was completely drained. This is a film that deserves to be seen, as hard as it is to watch. A masterful script, gripping direction and Mikkelsen’s powerful turn come together to create a nerve-shattering drama unlike any other I’ve seen.