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One
of the most successful films at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival was the
Danish
film, The Hunt. Mads Mikkelsen took
away Best Actor of the festival and when you watch the film, there is
no
question as to why.
Lucas
(Mikkelsen) has had a tough time since breaking
up with
his wife and fighting for custody of his son, Marcus (Lasse
Fogelstrom). After
losing his job as a teacher, he takes a job at a kindergarten and
actually
starts enjoying the time with the children. It seems as though things
are
finally looking bright for Lucas when he starts dating Nadja (Alexandra
Rapaport). However, things start crumbing in unspeakable fashion when
one of
the children from the kindergarten wrongly accuses Lucas of indecent
exposure.
The Hunt is an extremely
powerful film. As soon as you know what the film is about, you know you
are
going to be faced with some pretty confronting issues. Paedophilia is a
very
sensitive and harsh subject. The Hunt isn’t
so much about the graphic act of paedophilia, but more about how people
behave
towards it. As the audience knows that Lucas is wrongly accused, it
breaks your
heart to witness how he is treated and the effect of the accusation on
himself
and on his son. Mads Mikkelsen demands the sympathy of the audience and
you
cling onto the hope that there is some good in the world and that he
will be
found to be innocent.
Yet,
in a way, you do find yourself torn. You know that the young girl,
Klara
(Annika Wedderkopp) isn’t telling the truth, but you don’t feel malice
towards
her. She is just so young and naïve and really has no idea what she is
doing. You
just find it so hard to be mad at her, which is also a credit to little
Annika
Wedderkopp’s acting. As well as being a complete little cutie
physically, her
sincerity is just beautiful. The town’s people see Klara as a victim
and you
see her as a victim as well, because you really can’t see her as the
enemy.
That is something pretty incredible as a result of wonderful
storytelling,
direction and acting.
The Hunt shows Denmark in all
its glory, and not just in regards to filmmaking. There is some
incredible
photography of the Danish wilderness during the hunting scenes and the
scenes
in which there is snow falling are just breath taking. You get a real
feel for
what it would be like living in a Danish village such as the one
featured in The Hunt at Christmas and you experience
all the senses which are to be seen on the screen.
The Hunt makes you
contemplate many things which you may not have considered before seeing
the
film and that is the result of brilliant filmmaking.
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