The Hunt

Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt" is not an easy film to watch. The narration of the film is simple and straight like its title but it’s the furtive layers of storytelling which makes it one of the best films of 2013 and a contender for the Oscars.

The story is about the kindergarten worker who is wrongly accused of licentious actions with the children of kindergarten. "The Hunt" had some very uncomfortable questions for me, it seems simple but has a bunch of questions hunting you.

Alfred Hitchock is a master, he knows how to shoot a scene to bring the maximum effect to it. Hitchcock's "Wrong Man" distantly has a similar theme where a guy is wrongly accused of committing a crime, Hitchcock brings all the minute emotions of thrill, the viewer would have some default sympathy for Henry Fonda. But, “The Hunt” hardly brings the emotions of thrill but it efficaciously accumulates the emotions of compassion and the hard sense of feeling for the tragic events which had to be faced by Lucas played by Mads Mikkelsen.

Jim Emerson referring to Paul Thomas Anderson's film "The Master" wrote:

"Just because we notice something in a film doesn't mean it has to be intentional; the important thing is that it's there. It's the work we respond to, because that's all we have; we can never know the intentions behind it for certain -- and maybe the artist doesn't, either. That's the way humans are wired."

You may refer to this quote to the first line of this post where i said: "The Hunt" is not an easy film to watch

For me, there are two important shots in the film, one is where a stag is hunted down in the woods by Lucas and another one is when Lucas looks himself into the mirror before visiting the church. I am not sure if Thomas Vinterberg is trying to convey what I felt while watching the film but the title of the film "The Hunt" will definitely compel a serious viewer to do some questioning.

Innocence is the vital ingredient in Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt", he exploits it with many characters and he has every right to do it. If one has the same filmy lens like me then one cannot overlook the innocent stag killed in the woods, the innocent Lucas accused by an innocent kid, innocent dog of Lucas is killed and innocent son of Lucas has to face circumstances of ostracism.

Can vengeance be measured? Does it offer some reprieve? Is vengeance moral enough to serve justice? Hatred for Lucas for his alleged crime turns violent when his dog is killed by some anonymous person. It’s the others who have been affected by the allegations apart from Lucas, his dog is killed, and his son is banished. The questions on society, relationships, morals and innocence are presented lucidly on the screen. It would be wrong to that its just the sensitivity of the "wrong accusation" was able to foster the emotion, its the structure, screenplay and narration which has done the work.

The Hunt made me feel like I was watching a film which has strong emotional elements of Micheal Haneke works with a minimalistic upfront celluloid attitude.