The Hunt

As a self-professed Catholic, I generously (or at least I think so) volunteer my time for Catholic activities.  A requirement for such volunteering is that I undergo “Safe Environment” classes.  In these classes, I learn about child sex abuse, signs of a predator, and what to do in case of abuse.  As you have no doubt surmised, the Church has imposed these classes due to the recent spate of child sex abuse cases.  At any rate, I have sometimes wondered what happens when a child falsely accuses someone of abuse.  Isn’t the child given the benefit of doubt?  Does a bare accusation (from a six year old, who is barely aware of him or herself) transform an otherwise good man into a loathsome predator?  Well, The Hunt deals aptly with this situation.

In The Hunt, Mads Mikkelsen (a most handsome man) plays a down-on-his-luck fellow who lives in a small and somewhat tribal Danish town.  His career consists of helping at the local Kindergarten, and one day a girl claims that Mads showed her his penis…  Even though he didn’t.  The town proceeds to lose its collective mind and Mads becomes a pariah.  Other children create their own tales of abuse.  Shopkeepers deny service to Mads, hooligans throw stones through his window, and someone even kills his dog.  But Mads is never convicted.  The paucity of evidence apparently didn’t convince the judge that a crime had occurred.  What is striking is that Mads sticks it out in the town.  He suffers the abuse and insists on his innocence.  Eventually, a reconciling of sorts occurs.  The chief accusator recants her tale and Mads is eventually brought back into the town’s embrace…  But not all forgive.

A simple accusation can ruin a person’s life, which this movie depicts in mesmerizing fashion.  Wonderfully simple yet tremendously effective – a modern classic.