Jägarna

The story here is kicked off by reports of illegal slaughter of reindeer. Local police turn a blind eye to the culprits, so a Stockholm detective, who was originally from the area, returns home and investigates. Things get complicated when he discovers his younger brother is involved but worse than that, the poaching has escalated into murder.

I had seen the sequel to this Swedish thriller recently, a film called False Trail which was made fifteen years after the first part. I am guessing that The Hunters is a fairly influential film, as it comes very early in the cycle of Nordic Noir movies which have become very popular over the course of the last decade or so. Like others in this bracket, this one derives a fair bit of its interest from its local flavour, in this case the chilly expanses of Lapland. Like False Trail, this one also presents a mystery which is resolved for the audience quite early on, leaving the tension to come from knowing who is dangerous and wondering how the central detective will resolve the case. For me personally, I would have preferred a mystery over the combination of thriller with family drama which both films essentially boil down to a large degree, with the detective character put in a compromised position where he has to weigh up his family loyalty over his wider role to society as a policeman, with the added complication of small town suspicion of city people ever present. I think both films are broadly similar in terms of quality, with neither being especially excellent. I thought they were more an example of a solid, if unremarkable, detective stories combined with family drama with a northern Swedish backdrop. Nothing wrong with any of that of course but I would say these are good films as opposed to the best Nordic Noir has to offer.

The hunters is a steady and mostly enjoyable thriller. I liked some of the acting and I liked the sense of the setting as well. I thought Rolf Lassgard was solid as Erik and Jarmo Makinen was actually a standout in his villainous role. The story line on paper is good and I felt like it was heading in a direction that I really liked but as the film went on I ended up feeling a bit let down. I expected a darker and more brooding tone than was actually delivered. I felt that as it progressed parts of the storyline and acting started to delve into the unbelievable and as a result of this it detracted from the overall quality of the thriller. I feel like the tone wasn't serious enough to coincide with events in the film and at various stages in the film things started to veer towards the ridiculous. The villains were over exaggerated, which turned it from a credible murder story into a story line that escalated too quickly without real substance. Overall I felt a bit disappointed and underwhelmed.

Sundvall has made an intense movie about illegal hunting. It's loaded with tense and excitement. Actually, it's about people living in a desolated place, not wanting to play with the rules of the community. We haven't seen such an intense movie in Sweden for at least a decade.

The drama gets the viewer involved, some of the scenes are intense.

You work up a hatred for a group of bully, savage like locals, and local people hypocritically convincing themselves there is no local crime, actually turn a blind eye to it.

What transpires is a drama which at the conclusion does not deliver the just desserts to the characters that it should.

There are some appalling crimes and corruption, but apparently the justice system cannot take any action.

The opening scene of the slaughter and butchery of reindeer is to be avoided.

One of the biggest Swedish box-office hits of the last couple of decades, this is an almost western-like story about a man who returns to his backwater town when his father dies.

Erik Bäckström (Rolf Lassgård) left his small hometown in the north of Sweden when he was younger to become a policeman in the big city. Now that his father has died he returns to the small town. He starts working on a long-running case of people poaching reindeer, but he soon discovers that not many people have any real interest in the case being solved. Eriks loyalties are tested along with his views on right and wrong.

This movie is quite solid, more so than most Swedish movies i might add. But still there are a few flaws that needs to be discussed. First of all this movie is not very sympathetic in it's description of the people from northern Sweden. Rather they are portrayed as a bunch of racist, moonshine-drinking rednecks. A view to be questioned no doubt. Also what strikes me about this movie is the almost complete lack of emotion it presents. There are terrible things going on on screen, brutal and terrifying, but they are examined at a distance and without any real moral judgment. It feels clinical.

What makes this an enjoyable experience despite the flaws though are several things. Rolf Lassgård is very good in the lead as the policeman, and also the rest of the cast perform well. Especially i might mention Lennart Jähkel as his brother. Also the movie is exciting and has quite a lot of suspense. And while the director shows very little emotion in the way he portrays the events of the film, there is still much emotion to be had. Jägarna is a movie that makes you think.

I rate it 7/10.