The Hunt (2012)

Lucas: What are you saying? Have you got something to say to me?
Agnes: Stop it, Lucas.
Lucas: You want to tell me something?
Theo: Relax, Lucas
Lucas: The whole town is listening . Tell me! What do you want to say?
Agnes: Stop it, you fucking psychopath!
Lucas: I want a word with Theo. Look into my eyes. Look me in the eyes. What do you see? Do you see anything? Nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. You leave me alone now. You leave me alone now, Theo. Then I'll go. Thank you.

The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg takes an extremely realistic look at the life of a social outcast, Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen). Lucas is a lonely school teacher who after his divorce has adjusted well in his role and is quite popular among the kids. Having lost custody of his son, Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrom), his life goes by after he finds a new love interest in Nadja (Alexandra Rapoport). However, his life soon takes a horrific turn when he is accused of sexual abuse by 5-year-old Klara (Annika Wedderkopp), the daughter of his best friend, Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen).

Klara is a lonely kid, probably a little neglected by her parents and her older brother too, who finds comfort with Lucas and his dog, Fanny. While her parents are busy arguing and fighting, it's Lucas who has to walk her to school at times. Although she is only five, she somehow feels some kind of attraction towards Lucas and places a gift in his coat pocket and also tries to kiss him in a way only meant for adults. When Lucas doesn't take it very nicely, he lets her know how kids her age are supposed to be. Klara probably feels betrayed in some way and makes up a story of sexual abuse without thinking much of the repercussions. Being a kid, she instantly forgets about it and when asked by suspicious people around, she mentions she doesn't remember things too well. Since there is a general feeling amongst adults that kids don't lie, specially about such things, they misconstrue it as a form of trauma because of which she doesn't want to remember the incident again. What follows is a systematic lynching of an innocent man who also has to face the questioning eyes of some of his very close allies.

As an investigation by the police ensues, there are further accounts of abuse by other children in the class too. They all seem to corroborate the same story of Lucas "touching" them after taking them to his basement. What no one ever questions in support of the poor victim is that Lucas never even had a basement in his house. Nobody even wants to suspect the vivid imaginations children can have sometimes once they are fed with an idea. Except for one friend, who also happens to be Marcus' godfather, everyone else turn their backs on him even after he is set free by the police due to lack of substantial evidence. We are taken through the unjust treatment of a man while he is thrown out of local stores and thrashed in public. Even his son, Marcus, who stands up for his dad, isn't spared and is harassed and beaten up by some of Theo's friends. If this weren't enough, they also send him the dead body of his dog, Fanny, in a plastic bag as a message to him to stay locked up in his house.

The ending shows that Klara owns up to her lie and all is forgiven to welcome him back to society, yet things don't truly change underneath. Even after a year of calm, there's an attempt on his life which goes to show that although people behave in a civilized manner at an individual level, mass behavior can bring out the beasts within in the form of pure evil. And what happens cannot be pinned on Klara since she is too young to even understand how she has affected Lucas.

Thomas Vinterberg has done an excellent job of bringing an uneasy subject and showing the true face of society and the evil that lurks in group behavior. Mads Mikkelsen (best known for Casino Royale, After the Wedding) plays the role of Lucas, a man who has withdrawn since explaining would prove his guilt,  convincingly and truly deserved a nomination, if not the Oscar (though he won it at the Cannes Film Festival). Overall, an excellent journey, yet heart-breaking.

Rating: 8/10