Denmark

What a passionate year for the Best Foreign Language Feature category. Already with two strong frontrunners including “The Broken Circle Breakdown” and now “The Hunt”, it will be hard to place a sure fire winner before the actual awards. “The Hunt” is Thomas Vinterberg’s latest film, which sees a Kindergarten teacher played by Mads Mikkelsen accused of sexual misconduct by his best friend’s daughter and one of his students. What sets this film apart is how blatant this accusation is wrong and the turmoil the viewer feels as they are the only one privy to the truth. Watching the destruction of his small life, between losing the chance to live with his son, and becoming the pariah of the neighborhood, resulting in fist fights at a grocery store and other unspeakable acts. The film is so strong structurally and with a high caliber performance from Mikkelsen, it’s hard to think this film could be beat. But “The Broken Circle Breakdown” matches that emotional state on the level of loss and heartbreak, producing a much more levelheaded exploration of emotions. “The Great Beauty”, which won the Golden Globe, could also sneak in and take the Oscar, providing a much less emotionally involved comedy. Regardless of who wins, “The Hunt” is just a great dramatic thriller and a film that might not have been seen without the help of the Oscar Challenge to act as a guide.

// Produced by Morten Kaufmann, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, and Thomas Vinterberg //
// Directed by Thomas Vinterberg//
// Dated Viewed: Thursday, February 6th, 2014 // DVD //  23 films – 25 days //