The Hunt
Dir: Thomas Vinterberg
2012
*****
In the year 2000 a horrible little British tabloid called The News of the World released a list (with pictures) of convicted paedophiles who had failed to sign on the sex offenders register. It is fair to say many of the accompanying photos were not of the greatest quality and lots of innocent people who looked vaguely like them got attacked in the streets. A Doctor who lived locally to me had a brick thrown through the window of his surgery because it had the word Pediatrician on the entrance. People are ignorant. The not so famous as they should be hip-hop duo Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip (check them out) wrote a song called 'Thou shall always kill' that includes the great line "Thou shalt not think any male over the age of 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a paedophile. Some people are just nice." I agree wholeheartedly. Although I generally don't play with kids that don't belong to me unless I know them, but you catch my drift. Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt is a frustratingly real film about peoples ignorance, knee-jerk reactions and dangerous gossip. It's frightening to think that this kind of thing happens all the time. It is played out perfectly, well handled and tasteful. Thomas Vinterberg doesn't make many films but when he does they pull no punches. Maybe now Mads Mikkelsen will also get the credit that is well over due. One of the best films of 2012 in my opinion.