The Hunt (15.)
Directed By Thomas Vinterberg.
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold and Anne Louise Hassing. Danish with Subtitles. 114 mins. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow on August 7th.
The Hunt is a circle of hell constructed solely from good intentions and reasonableness. Lucas (Mikkelsen) is a divorced man working in a nursery in a small Danish village. Life seems to be ticking along well enough for him until one of the children makes an entirely false accusation of inappropriate sexual behaviour and his whole world falls apart.
The mechanics of tragedy are often self defeating. The manipulation needed to manoeuvre characters to the abyss, the improbable ironies, the irational behaviour, subtract from the sense of loss. In The Hunt the way events quickly explode and fly out of hand is wholly and horribly plausible. What really gets you is that everybody is more or less blameless. The worst you could say about anybody is that they succumb to a certain panicked hysteria, but even then they have good reason.
Usually such cautionary tales allow you the space to feel that you’d have behaved better in those circumstances. Here, there is the depressing realization that you’d have done exactly the same, or far worse.
Vinterberg has had an underwhelming career since he made his name with the first Dogma movie, Festen. This though is the work of a man at the height of his powers. It’s exquisitely well made and performed, realistic but not drab, balanced without being a cop out.
Its cinema release in 2012 coinciding with a great paedophile moral panic and Philip Schofield’s Neville Chamberlain act – ‘I have in my hand a piece of paper, there are paedophiles in our time.’ Post Savile, I think we were more concerned with institutional cover ups than the wrongfully accused, but even in such a climate the film's power stood out. Five years on our national hysteria has moved on, and Vinterberg's film remains a mighty, powerful piece of work.
Extras.
A brief but informative Making Of.
Alternative ending.
Deleted scenes.
Outtakes.
The First Pressing has a booklet featuring new writing on the film and a contemporary interview with Thomas Vinterberg, illustrated with original production stills.
Directed By Thomas Vinterberg.
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold and Anne Louise Hassing. Danish with Subtitles. 114 mins. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow on August 7th.
The Hunt is a circle of hell constructed solely from good intentions and reasonableness. Lucas (Mikkelsen) is a divorced man working in a nursery in a small Danish village. Life seems to be ticking along well enough for him until one of the children makes an entirely false accusation of inappropriate sexual behaviour and his whole world falls apart.
The mechanics of tragedy are often self defeating. The manipulation needed to manoeuvre characters to the abyss, the improbable ironies, the irational behaviour, subtract from the sense of loss. In The Hunt the way events quickly explode and fly out of hand is wholly and horribly plausible. What really gets you is that everybody is more or less blameless. The worst you could say about anybody is that they succumb to a certain panicked hysteria, but even then they have good reason.
Usually such cautionary tales allow you the space to feel that you’d have behaved better in those circumstances. Here, there is the depressing realization that you’d have done exactly the same, or far worse.
Vinterberg has had an underwhelming career since he made his name with the first Dogma movie, Festen. This though is the work of a man at the height of his powers. It’s exquisitely well made and performed, realistic but not drab, balanced without being a cop out.
Its cinema release in 2012 coinciding with a great paedophile moral panic and Philip Schofield’s Neville Chamberlain act – ‘I have in my hand a piece of paper, there are paedophiles in our time.’ Post Savile, I think we were more concerned with institutional cover ups than the wrongfully accused, but even in such a climate the film's power stood out. Five years on our national hysteria has moved on, and Vinterberg's film remains a mighty, powerful piece of work.
Extras.
A brief but informative Making Of.
Alternative ending.
Deleted scenes.
Outtakes.
The First Pressing has a booklet featuring new writing on the film and a contemporary interview with Thomas Vinterberg, illustrated with original production stills.