by allan tong for FILMbutton

Lucas is an ordinary guy. He teaches kindergarten, has a steady girlfriend and goes hunting with his buddies on the weekend. All of that chances when one of his students, little Klara who has a crush on him, accuses Lucas of inappropriately touching her and exposing himself. Even worse, Klara is the daughter of his best friend, Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen). Lucas loses his job, gets arrested, and is even beaten in his local supermarket. The doors close all around him in a Kafkaesque nightmare.

The Hunt isn’t a thriller that investigates the truth behind Klara’s accusations like a Hollywood movie. Instead, it’s a disturbing portrait of a man hounded by a witch hunt. What’s terrifying is how swiftly Lucas’ small Danish town turns on him without a second thought.

Mads Mikkelson deserves the best actor prize he received at Cannes. Best know as TV’s Hannibal Lekter, Mikkelson delivers a complex and sensitive performance of a persecuted man trying to maintain his dignity. The most heartbreaking moment comes between Lucas and Theo whose friendship is destroyed. The more Lucas suffers, the more the audience sympathizes with him. At times, his suffering is hard to take, but you’re mesmerized by the intensity of Mikkelsen’s performance.

The director, Thomas Vinterberg, explored child sexual abuse in 1998’s black comedy, The Celebration. In contrast, The Hunt is a straight drama, powerful and haunting. It is one of the year’s finest films.

Allan is a Toronto filmmaker, co-directing Leone Stars, a documentary about child victims of the Sierra Leonean civil war.