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Year: 2012
Category: Drama.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg.
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Alexandra Rapaport, Anne Louise Hassing, Lars Ranthe, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold, Ole Dupont, Sebastian Bull Sarning.
After divorcing, Lucas has found a new girlfriend, a new job and tries to rebuild his relationship with his teenage son, but an innocent comment and a petty lie spread like an invisible virus sowing distrust in the small population.
Known in the English-speaking market as The Hunt, the film narrates a controversial and delicate topic: Lucas, a high school teacher, must take a job in a preschool located in the small town where he grew up, work seems to do very well, in turn, he tries to have more time with his son Marcus, who lives with his mother after she and Lucas got divorced.
Soon a Russian immigrant, Nadja, is related to Lucas, but the problems do not take long to appear when Klara, a 5-year-old student of Lucas and daughter of his best friend, angry with him, decides to lie to the preschool director, claiming that Lucas showed her his erect penis, and under the premise that "children never lie" and after an investigation and a negligent psychology job, Lucas life becomes a hell, harassed, persecuted and disowned by everyone. Guilty until proven otherwise
The film is developed as a drama, I know that the title could suppose that it is a film in which there will literally be a hunt, but I must warn you that this is not the case, the term is used metaphorically, although, of course, the director decides to make everything related to this particular issue including a local hunting society of which the characters are members.
Thomas Vinterberg, the director, has also directed The Biggest Heroes, The Celebration, The Third Lie, It's All About Love, Dear Wendy, A Man Comes Home, Submarine, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Commune, Kursk and three shorts: Sneblind, Last Round and The Boy Who Walked Backwards. He does not do a relentless job, however, what is done here is not negligible at all, it is good, however, I could personally criticize the fact that he extends the film more than he should and that he can not develop well the relationship between Lucas and Nadja, however, in regards to the creation of tension, drama and emotional intensity he does a good job.
Mads Mikkelsen, who has an excellent and long career but I personally remember his participation as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, does a great job here, his interpretation is the soul of the movie and the one that makes this story work, with another actor probably the result would not be so good.
In conclusion, it is not the most entertaining film, nor the most technically accurate, however, it is a well done work that shows a part of the harsh reality of some, not all, situations that involve accusations of the kind we see here.
Good film, with an acceptable script and direction, a great interpretation and a hard ending that makes us think.
