08/04/13…..Danish drama at Thame Cinema 4 All

THAME Cinema 4 All presents: The Hunt, this Saturday, April 13; Made in Denmark – released 2012, 88 minutes, 15 certificate; Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Susse Wold, Thomas Bo Larsen

Vinterberg?s latest is a brilliant Danish drama about a man wrongly accused of paedophilia thanks to the dangerous lies told by an innocent child. Mikkelsen is outstanding in the role of school teacher Lucas. Life has been difficult ? he lost a job because of local cuts, has been forced into a lowlier position at a nursery school, and is engaged in a bitter dispute with his ex-wife over access to his teenaged son. Just when things seem to be looking up ? he is well liked in his small community, and has found a new girlfriend – he becomes the victim of a small act of revenge.

The daughter of a friend is slighted when Lucas refuses a gift. Peevish and hurt, she decides to tell the school administrator that Lucas has exposed himself to her. Child psychologists and police are called in, and mounting suspicion escalates against the increasingly marginalised and paranoid hero. It is a frightening and all too believable story, told with intelligence and maturity, with gripping suspense. It asks important and timely questions about community and the ease with which perfectly reasonable people can be swept up by group hysteria.