The Hunt

Fans of Scandi TV crime hits The Killing and The Bridge might well take an interest in this drama, but it's not a big-screen equivalent, rather a timely and intelligent reminder of the dangers of public hysteria. The setting is a small Danish town, where kindergarten worker Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by one of the children. Other youngsters join in, and soon Lucas is ostracised by the whole community, including best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen), whose little girl is the source of the original charges. It sounds like a thriller, but the film shows early on that Lucas is entirely innocent, and instead creates drama from the ever-escalating nightmare in which he finds himself trapped. The always excellent Mikkelsen gives his best performance yet (he won the best actor prize at Cannes), playing a man who is far from perfect, but never once loses our sympathy. The outcome is genuinely tense, and the whole film offers a worryingly plausible reflection of its time.