Infamy, Infamy – They’ve All Got It In For Me: The Hunt

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Unfortunately, over here in Britain, Mads Mikkelsen is most famous for this advert:

Did Carlsberg sell more beers that year? Possibly. Did they help people understand their Danish roots a little better? More than likely. Does Mikkelsen deserve far more recognition than a larger advert? Certainly.

I find it quite amusing to see Hannibal Lecter ambling along on a bike and using the words like, “fuzzy and snuggly.” But, after doing my Hannibal review, I felt ashamed that all I really knew Mads from was this particular ad. Compelled to find out more about the Danish actor, I stumbled upon The Hunt.

Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is a kindergarten teacher in a small suburban Danish town. Living a peaceful and comfortable life, things seem to be looking up for him – he’s met a girl, Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport), and his son, Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrøm), looks like he may be moving in with him after a tough divorce. But Lucas’s world soon collapses when one of his student’s, Klara (Annika Wedderkopp), who has a crush on him, implies he committed a lewd act in front of her.

Mads is so much more than the face of Carlsberg – his performance is, as usual, excellent. Typically understated and powerful, he captures his character with such an ease it’s astonishing. Alongside Anthony Hopkins, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston and Matt Damon, I would say Mikkelsen is in my top six male actors working right now. Obviously, that doesn’t include legends like De Niro or Pacino, but they’re not what they used to be.

I don’t know much about Danish actors, but I couldn’t see anyone else playing Lucas. The Hunt really is a one man show. I’m not saying the supporting cast isn’t good – Wedderkopp steals every scene she’s in, Fogelstrøm is also excellent and Thomas Bo Larsen and Lars Ranthe are impressive as two of Lucas’s friends – but Mikkelsen just keeps you mesmerised. And very cleverly, he’s in basically every scene. Compliments to the screenwriter.

It’s an interesting film, if not flawed. What’s exasperating about The Hunt is those flaws could have been easily rectified. Obviously, the subject the film is based around is a touchy one – there was a particular scene where Klara is interviewed by a social services worker that is particularly… how can I put this? Delicate. At points, you want to look away but the action just holds you to the screen. Your attention never wavers and I was forever intrigued.

However, The Hunt is perhaps one of the most frustrating films I’ve watched in a long time. Simply because the plot has more potholes than a sunken lane, or seemingly so. Of course, cultures are different, but the day care runner was a farcical character. Some of her actions were just preposterous, like handing out pamphlets or announcing information to parents before anything is solid. At one point, Klara even admits she made it up to her mother, who tells her that she’s remembering it wrong. Sorry? How would you know that? I just found myself shaking my head. Even worse was this idea though the film that “kids never lie.”

I- I don’t know what to say. Am I the only one who can’t get my head around this? Kids never lie? What world are they living on? All children do is lie. I struggled to understand why they would believe a five year old girl over a forty year old man when all their arguments are based on hearsay. It’s an exciting premise, but it’s undermined by its lack of realism. If The Hunt had a good script editor, this film could jump from a seven to an eight.

But what it does do well is capture a paranoia, self hate and brutal marginalisation, all inside a small, close-nit, seemingly perfect Danish town. When disaster gets ready to strike, people readily and almost happily spit and then turn their backs on Lucas, and even going to further extremes – which I won’t spoil for you. It’s the idea of ‘I never liked him anyway.’ I can’t praise the film enough for the way they managed to encapsulate this, and it’s probably the best element.

After we get past the many failures of the plot, which is mainly the first part of the film, The Hunt bursts into life. We have a brilliant succession of scenes, where Marcus gets in a passionate fight, Lucas loses someone close to him, headbutts a massive butcher and then heads to church. That particular church scene is incredible and emotional. Did I feel a tear come to my eye? No. But I’m sure others will.

What bugs me is they tried to raise the tension much earlier with futile events when they didn’t need to. If it they had kept it subtle, without us even realising that Lucas’s life is crumbling, and then knocked us out with the few killer blows, the film could have gone from good to superb.

The ending. Ah. Let’s discuss the ending. I was dreading the worst. It looked like we were all ready to accept Lucas back into society. Marcus got his hunting license. Things were looking up… but where was the twist going to come? Surely they couldn’t just end like that after all we’ve been through. Perhaps Lucas had actually abused Klara and gotten away with it – that would have been dark, but throughout I don’t think there was ever a moment where I wondered if Lucas had ever done it. He always seems like a good, honest man, but often it’s the most popular and charismatic that we don’t suspect.

You’ll be pleased to know there was a twist – and a powerful one. It helps us realise that this little lie, no matter if Lucas is proved innocent and all evidence points away from him, will constantly haunt him. He will never be truly forgiven, and deep down, beneath the surface, he’ll never be fully trusted again. The sad part is this man did nothing wrong. I think that’s what will get to most people.

But preposterous chasms in the plot sabotage what would otherwise be a powerful, well casted and emotional display. It’s a massive disappointment. My opinion of Mikkelsen hasn’t changed – he’s a genius, and I think it’ll only be a matter of time before he lands the perfect project that takes the world by storm. On another day, The Hunt is an eight, but on another, it’s a six. So I comprised.

Have you watched The Hunt? Will you give it a watch now? Do you admire Mads Mikkelsen as much as me? Tell me in the comments below!

The Hunt – 7 out of 10