Review of The Hunt (2013) by Edgar C — 15 Apr 2014

- Lucas is an idealized personification of the dignity of the human spirit. His role is to represent the burden of an innocent soul, that is perfectly capable of making human mistakes. He reminds us of the weight that the perception of society towards our image and reputation can have in our condition of social beings.

- Klara represents the only source of purity in the film. She is a little spark; the rest of the people are dynamite cartridges. Given her age, and therefore his incapacity to properly measure the effects of a lie (actually, nobody can), her mistake was to fuse the powder leading to the dynamite. It actually backfires against her in one scene.

- The rest of the adult world represents two things: the hypocrisy of condemning another person like if they were any better, and the famous psychological effect called confirmation bias, in which the own experiences, judgments and feelings are utilized as undeniable evidence to confirm our own thoughts, leaving no room for alternate possibilities.

- Finally, the film itself is a vote of confidence towards the future maturity of a hypocritical society, but with a realistic side to it, no matter how pessimistic it may seem at the end: the world itself is "full of wickedness", a jungle eager to hunt us down, but uncapable of realizing their own mistakes. A brief solution is offered by Theo when talking to her daugher: "But it can disappear if we stay together". It is easier to point the finger at others, but when you do, there are three others pointing at yourself. I invite you to try it with your own hand.

Even if the concept has been overused, I consider of fundamental importance to keep bringing innocent people condemned "unjustly" because everything is relative in this life. Maybe he was innocent of the accusation he received. However, think that:

- The reasons of his divorce are never presented. Maybe he did a lot of damage to his family. Maybe he didn't. There's an infinite number of possibilities.

- The plot circles around one conflict; however, the background of his whole life is never presented. We are just shown his friendly side that his profession as a teacher could have strengthened.

- He hunts down animals, just like many do in the film. How is that less serious than, for example, sexual harassment? (Ironically, he receives an equal treatment in return regarding his pet).

- We know nothing beyond what we see.

In a way, we as audiences are put to the same test he is put. You literally want to kick the ass of the unjust society. But when we have such an emotional/impulsive reaction, we are making the same mistake they do. We become another rotten screw of the aggressive social machinery. We are not the perfect jurors of the world. Only God is.

Jagten is another necessary analysis of society hysteria, the relativity of moral, and the power of lies and confirmation bias in people that think of themselves better than others, wonderfully acted by Mads Mikkelsen, and with a powerful message of reflection that shall never grow old, simply because of our condition as social beings that have the need of comprehension and interaction.

81/100.