The Hunt

Mad for Mads Mikkelsen? The Danish actor (A Royal Affair, NBC’s Hannibal) deservedly won the Best Actor Award at Cannes in 2012 for his finely honed performance as a popular kindergarten teacher named Lucas struggling to pull his life back together after a divorce. Writer director Thomas Vinterberg sets this acclaimed feature in a small Danish village where, for better or for worse, everybody knows your name and your business.  This being a movie, things get better for Lucas. Girlfriend? Check! Son living with him and not with icky ex-wife?  Check!  This being a Vinterberg movie, the worst happens when the daughter of his best friend accuses Lucas of sexual abuse (at Christmastime no less) and mass hysteria takes over.  As the community turns against him Lucas makes the case for his innocence and is finally cleared of the charges.  But even though tensions subside, the ending of the film makes clear that Lucas will never be free from the danger of suspicious minds.