Jagten
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Writer: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold, Anne Louise Hassing, Lars Ranthe, Alexandra Rapaport
Part of: Viennale
[TRIGGER WARNING]
Plot:
Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) was recently divorced and lost his job. He is just getting his life back together, working in a kindergarden and trying to find a way to communicate with his ex for the sake of their son Marcus (Lasse Fogelstrøm). He has the support of his best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen) and also finds some solace in the special friendship he shares with Theo’s daughter Klara (Annika Wedderkopp). But then another kindergarden teacher believes that Klara is accusing Lucas of abuse and that brings everything crashing down.
Jagten was a bit of a tour de force. It was amazingly fantastic but I can’t remember the last time I was so fucking tense during a movie. I can only bow down to Thomas Vinterberg and Mads Mikkelsen and then go cry in a corner.
The story is a difficult one to tell. Not only because of the general subject matter but also because you wouldn’t want to make it out like it’s the normal way of things that accusations of abuse are misconstrued. It is hard enough for victims to speak out as is and they already have to face a disproportionate amount of suspicion that they’re lying when they do, so that movies about the falsely accused are not easily pulled off. But I thought that Vinterberg and Lindholm managed that quite well. He made the misunderstanding believable and kept it blame-free.
But also apart from that pitfall the story was extremely well told. Even though it is pretty clear where everything is heading right from the start, Vinterberg manages to create so much tension that it’s breathtaking. I actually caught myself clutching at my sweater during the film.
The cast was perfect, too. I mean, Mads Mikkelsen usually is but he really outdid himself here. His performance is incredible. And they found an amazing actress in Annika Wedderkopp. So little and yet she can hold her own against Mikkelsen’s force of nature performance.
I left the cinema feeling in equal parts that I had just seen an important and brilliant film, but also glad that it was over. I don’t think I could have stood the tension anymore if it had gone on any longer. But it was definitely a worthy last film for this year’s Viennale.
Summarising: must-see. Bring chocolate.
kalafudra's Stuff 
I didn’t quite like it as much as you did. I thought a couple of scenes were a little predictable, and found it implausible that suddenly every child says it has been molested by him. And, as I already told you in person ;-), I strongly believe that real child molestation is BY FAR the bigger problem, compared to unwarranted allegations. Thus, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t feel as much for Lucas as much as I hoped I would. I mean, really, if you would be one of the parents – which side would you rather err on? Other than that, it was very good.
Of course, child abuse is by far the worse problem of the two. And there is a case to be made that this story shouldn’t have been told at all, since it potentially makes it even harder for victims to speak up/be believed.
But since they decided to tell the story, I believe that they handled it very well – realistically and without blame in the wrong parts.
On that we can agree :-)