Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Written by: Tobias Lindholm & Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Alexandra Rapaport
Runtime: 115 minutes
Summary: A kindergarten teacher who lives a lonely life gets caught in a horrendous situation. He becomes the town pariah when a young girl wrongly accuses him of sexual abuse.
This movie is a character portrait about a good man who suffers from unfortunate occurrences and terrible accusations. It also displays the catastrophic result of untrue rumors in small town societies.
Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is caught in the middle of a tricky puzzle. Young children have vivid imaginations and adults have their fears and suspicions, rightfully so. The anatomy of this character that we see on screen, mimics our civilization in so many ways; especially when you peel away the layers one by one.
Lucas is a beloved kindergarten teacher. All the kids at school love him. He’s a wonderful teacher, he’s a wonderful friend and a wonderful father. All of this is shattered when his best friend’s daughter, Klara tells the school that he has misbehaved with her physically.
His reputation in this small town is instantly shattered. His son, who believes his father, becomes ostracized. In the town they reside in, the beliefs are as follows: children never lie.
I was so poignant when I watched this movie. I was emotional because the mere thought of any adult taking advantage of a young child burns a hole in my stomach. For me, that’s the most unfathomable act anyone can commit.
And on the contrary, it split my heart to see a man, whose character could never commit such a crime be accused of actions such as that. For a viewer to get so wrapped up in a character like that is intense and haunting. It takes a good actor like Mads Mikkelsen to display such a range of dramatic emotion.
THE HUNT left me with a sinister which was two fold. As mentioned above, taking advantage of any young child is horrendously grotesque. And to see a man like Lucas accused, was equally immeasurable to watch.
In society today, especially in small towns, word of mouth allegations spread like wild fire. As a person living in this kind of culture, I’ve learned over time not to open my mouth about occurrences that are sensitive unless I have the hard facts. I don’t judge until I am fully educated.
I have totally been in those situations where I believed a lie about someone or something and it was totally false. Instead of stopping it, I was ignorant and blathered about it. It not only proved that I lacked logic and intelligence, but I contributed to the hunt of the rumor