The Hunt 2012

     Also titled Jagten.  Lucas is a lonely 40-year-old divorced day-care worker.  He’s trying to arrange for his teenage son to start living with him instead of living with his ex-wife.  Klara is a young girl and gets mad at Lucas.   She tries to kiss him and he says he cannot accept that gift.  He asks her to give the gift to her older brother instead.  She tells the manager that Lucas did something bad.  Everyone in the town turns against Lucas, he loses his job, his son is not allowed to see him and he is not welcome to shop in the local grocery store.  The police become involved since many of the children have come forward with the same story.

     This is tough movie to watch because of the theme but with very good acting.  Once everyone believes something true or not, how do you change their minds?  If no one believes you, how can you fight the lie.  A lie can sometimes be much stronger than the truth and you are guilty without a trial.  Mad Mikkelsen is usuallyin the bad guy role.  3 ½* (I liked this movie) 

115 min, Drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg with Mads Mikkelsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Thomas Bo Larsen, Lasse Fogelstrom, Susse Wold, Anne Louise Hassing, Lars Ranthe, Alexandra Rapaport, Hana Shuan.

Note:  Imdb 8.3 out of 10, 94% critic 93% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Metacritic 77 out of 100 with 30 critics 8.4 out of 10 with 211 reviews, The Telegraph 5*, Roger Ebert 3*, Letterboxd 4.1* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Hoje Taastrup Church, Taastrup, Denmark.  Officially submitted by Denmark to the Foreign Language Film category of the 2014 Academy Awards.  Premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and the first Danish-language film in the main competition since 1998.   The second film by Thomas Vinterberg, his first was The Celebration of 1998.