The Hunt

Mads Mikkelsen movies are the place to go to get wet. Sometimes it's also a pleasant surprise from another point of view. That’s what The Hunt is like. It’s a story about how our kids are getting a bit out of control. And it's not just the fundamentally democratic US that's in trouble, but the otherwise progressive Scandinavia is in the same mess. It may have started as a little film about male emancipation, but it broke down nicely into an appeal for herd restraint. (14/08/2013)

People are like sheep! All you have to do is throw a victim at them and they persecute and abuse it without any substantiated and credible evidence, and you have to look for any hint of humanity. The Hunt is a chilling drama set in a small town where everyone knows each other, and nothing is solved as quickly as the dirt on other people. But the hunt is for a victim who doesn't want to give up easily and be falsely smeared, so she resists with all their might. In short, a very well made and dense thriller that lacks a more shocking touch and conclusion to get a full score, when compared to, for example, the similar 2009 film Deliver Us from Evil. (24/12/2014)

A film that is hard to describe has to be seen. Only The Shining, my favourite film ever, has made me feel this “cold” when the end credits started rolling. A harrowing experience that may tamper with the laws of real probability to its emotional advantage at times, but the way it repeatedly pours boiling water on the viewer, and leaves them standing outside in the freezing cold is truly unprecedented. I don't know any other film that can so amazingly adapt the audience's emotions to the main character's depressive feelings and that makes the audience actively react to every twist and turn, laughing, cursing, crying... I feel a little bitter towards Thomas Vinterberg and all the other actors for having sweated through and through my least cheap t-shirt and sweatshirt, but otherwise I send them my admiration and endless praise. This review is intentionally shallow because to tinker more thoroughly with something so perfect and effective seems undignified to me. (13/04/2013)

No matter what anybody might say, Mads Mikkelsen is the most interesting and the best contemporary European actor. Each of his characters on the screen is alive. Not only alive, they’re downright breathing through the screen. In my opinion, The Hunt is the best notch on his belt that must win everyone over. I get that he took advantage of the current situation of the Danish cinema which is full of the best screenwriters and directors, but he was simply destined to be born into this very era and he made the best possible use of it due to his personality. The Hunt is a difficult movie to watch. It’s actually about a topic that is hard to talk about and just as hard to film. It’s a taboo that stirred the pot in this movie. The amazing thing is that the screenwriter apparently analyzed the human nature all his life and showed exactly what we, as human beings, are capable of doing and what we are not capable of doing. After an absurd discovery, Mads transforms with each single second of this movie and the viewer drowns in a depression that will leave you restless. That’s exactly what movies are about. About emotions and feelings that each of us should think about regularly. The Hunt managed to do that, and I must say that it is one of the few movies that aren’t afraid to reveal the truth hidden somewhere in the corner of each of us. (01/11/2013)

A calm Nordic winter, a five-year-old femme fatale, and me, unaware of the plot or anything else, sitting in my seat in the movie theater, and knowing that in six months I am to become a teacher too. It’s pure in terms of the genre to the point where words about sliding on the surface come to mind, yet it cuts under the skin like few things have in recent memory. I haven't felt my throat this tight in a long time. (11/02/2013)