Stories like this are frightening, especially when it turns out that the accused child abuser is innocent and winds up with his life utterly destroyed. This one turns out to be a classic case of someone being guilty until proved innocent, and by then, the damage has already been done. And in today's world, the type of scenario presented in the film treads on a slippery slope. After young Klara makes her thoughtless statement to the teacher Grethe (Susse Wold), one can't find fault in the actions taken by her and other persons in a position of authority.
I did have a problem with the gentleman called in by Grethe for the initial questioning of Klara, he presented what sounded like a series of leading questions that presumed Lucas's (Mads Mikkelsen) guilt in the matter at hand. What follows is a damning indictment of someone who up till then had been a model citizen confronting his own personal life situation which wasn't altogether a happy one.
One tends to lose sight of the title of this picture while watching. "The Hunt" sounds like it might have some application to Lucas's plight, in that he's being pursued or 'hunted' for something he didn't do. However the film ends with an actual deer hunt as the occasion of Lucas's son coming of age and getting his own hunting license and a rifle passed down through the family. That potshot taken at Lucas at the very end was delivered as a reminder that Lucas was not entirely exonerated in the eyes of someone or some faction in the community, and that he would have to keep a constant watch over his shoulder. It's a maddening way to live as the result of an immature indiscretion.
I did have a problem with the gentleman called in by Grethe for the initial questioning of Klara, he presented what sounded like a series of leading questions that presumed Lucas's (Mads Mikkelsen) guilt in the matter at hand. What follows is a damning indictment of someone who up till then had been a model citizen confronting his own personal life situation which wasn't altogether a happy one.
One tends to lose sight of the title of this picture while watching. "The Hunt" sounds like it might have some application to Lucas's plight, in that he's being pursued or 'hunted' for something he didn't do. However the film ends with an actual deer hunt as the occasion of Lucas's son coming of age and getting his own hunting license and a rifle passed down through the family. That potshot taken at Lucas at the very end was delivered as a reminder that Lucas was not entirely exonerated in the eyes of someone or some faction in the community, and that he would have to keep a constant watch over his shoulder. It's a maddening way to live as the result of an immature indiscretion.