The opening scenes of The Hunt highlight the lovely close-knit feel of kindergarten teacher Lucas's (Mads Mikkelsen) hometown. Men who've known each other since childhood horse around like boys, tease each other about crushes, and get drunk together. We feel the closeness and love Lucas and his best friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen) have for each other, though their revelry is eventually cut off by reproachful looks from Theo's wife, who argues with her husband about his silly behavior. Even before the film arrives at the accusation that Lucas sexually harassed Theo's daughter Klara, the filmmakers add a deeper note to the conflict. The Hunt may be more obviously concerned with personal betrayal and hysteric vilification, but its interest in the close relationship between these two middle-aged men also forces us to examine the sacrifices of adulthood. In wanting to support his family, Theo is ultimately forced to choose between support for his childhood friend and his role as a loyal husband and protective father. The film's plot contains extreme circumstances and dramatic scenes, but the loss of childhood friendships it depicts in its quieter moments is identifiable and heartbreaking.
Of course, the idyllic vision of a harmonious Danish society that begins the film almost feels like Vinterberg's version of a joke. Just as the town comes together for drinks and celebrations, we see them cooperate to destroy one of their own, ripping their peaceful community apart in the process. We can see or understand every step of the chain here, from the frustration of Theo's wife to Klara's stares, to Klara's mumbled story to glimpses of conversations among teachers to outsiders' perspectives to the gut reactions of furious parents... But the anger and persecution here is more than just a chain reaction - it's self-sustaining. More children come out with other false accusations, more parents are upset, and we lose track of the individuals who hate Lucas. The town is now consumed by their anger, with every employee of the town's supermarket barring Lucas from shopping there and complicit in his beating, an unknown attacker killing his dog, and a faceless assailant shooting at him from afar. Where the first instance of violence was a parent pushing Lucas out of the school, each successive attack seems less explicitly connected to Lucas than to the idea of a generic villain. While the attacks range from beatdowns to psychological torment, they grow increasingly faceless and distant.