Thomas Vinterberg

The Hunt

turned the tables and looked atthose falsely accused of paedophilia. Most notably, Vinterberg deliberately avoids ambiguity concerning the case in hand. Unlike, for example, Doubt where ambiguity is the driving force.And in the distinctly bolshie aesthetic of Danish filmmaking, this dark subject matter is not absent of comic touches to offer counterbalance to the unsettlingatmosphere. Whereas Festen adhered to the brash attitude of the Dogme 95 movement, The Hunt is cleaner and more conventional in its process.

As a blood-boiling portrayal of the life of a wrongly accused schoolteacher, Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film is a deeply tragic and in-furiating watch. As far as subjects go, child sex abuse is one that easily gets under the skin. The Hunt, however, offers a perspective not often explored. After focusing on the after-math of sex abuse and the evil of sex abusers in Festen, Vinterberg has

Words ByJack Jones

‘Vinterberg proves that this type of persecution is a

permanent ink stain’

‘Vinterberg proves that this type of persecution is a

Gone is the video aesthetic, replaced by a traditional beauty of warm light-ing and clean cinematography. This is not to say that any of the unsettling qualities of the Dogme movement have been lost. Quite the opposite, in fact. Although The Hunt is being tipped as Vinterberg’s comeback – this is indeed his best film since Festen – the pervading atmosphere

That Mads Mikkelsen is in every scene; the effect places you in the shoes of his character and the cruel trial by public opinion of which he is a victim. As a former Bond villain, Mikkelsen may not appear the obvious choice for the role of Lucas. But his layering of nuance to his character perfectly counterbalances any last-ing memories you may have of the

characters he has played previously. This time around Mikkelsen is softer and more passive. You could say frustratingly passive considering the vitriol he is subjected to. Where is the fight or even a lawyer to offer a defence? The Hunt inevitably calls to mind Arthur Miller’s The Crucible due to its depiction of communal hysteria and a remorseless punishment at

the hands of a community acting as judge, jury and executioner. Thematically the film is concerned with a loss of innocence.day form of witch-hunt. Lucas, it seems, is a symbol for Vinterberg of a time now lost. And in a starkly nihilistic way, Vinterberg proves that,in the end, this type of persecution is a permanent ink stain which can never be erased.