THE HUNT (Thomas Vinterberg) Rating: NNNN
Watching Mads Mikkelsen’s wrenching turn as a kindergarten teacher falsely accused of child abuse is like observing a wounded doe squirm. You want to put a bullet in him just to end his suffering (and your own).
Writer/director Thomas Vinterberg dives into the sensitive topic he touched on his Dogme 95 debut, The Celebration. Here he takes a simpler, more straightforward approach to a fraught subject, allowing characters and audience to decide rather swiftly whom not to believe.
Yet there’s nothing simplistic about the performances. Mikkelsen and a terrific ensemble navigate complex emotions and moral quandaries in a terrain where a satisfying resolution is as hard to come by as a child who never tells a lie.
