The Hunters (1996 film)

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The Hunters
Directed by	Kjell Sundvall
Produced by	Joakim Hansson, Björn Carlström
Written by	Kjell Sundvall, Björn Carlström
Starring	Rolf Lassgård, Lennart Jähkel, Helena Bergström , Jarmo Mäkinen
Distributed by	Sandrew Metronome
Release date(s)	1996
Running time	113 min.
Language	Swedish
IMDb profile

The Hunters (Jägarna) is a Swedish thriller from 1996 by film director Kjell Sundvall. A police officer from Stockholm moves back to his hometown in Norrland in northern Sweden. He starts to work on a long-running case where reindeer have been poached and soon discovers that his brother is involved.

The film was one of the biggest Swedish box-office hits ever and received two Guldbagge Awards for Best Direction (Kjell Sundvall) and Best Supporting Actor (Lennart Jähkel). It was also nominated for Best Actor (Rolf Lassgård), Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay.

Hollywood wanted to make a remake of this film and the American producers wanted it to be about cowboys in the Nevada desert, shooting wild horses for fun. Kjell Sundvall was positive to this at first but later changed his mind.

Erik (Rolf Lassgård), a police returning from duty in Stockholm where he shot a robber to death and himself went shot, reunites with his brother, his old friends and enemies in a small town in the low-populated outskirts of Norrbotten. His new police duties concerns him very little, until he notices that somebody is hunting illegally. Finding illegal weapons in a car owned by a very unfriendly man, Tomme, Erik more and more suspect that a gang led by Tomme (Lennar Jähkel, the surname meaning "bastard" or "devil") hunts illegaly at grand scale. He finds a hideout where numerously numbers of animals have been slaughtered after being shot with illegal arms, but is knocked down by one of the hunters. A town meeting is called, where it is stated that the illegal hunt must end (the "mayor" saying that they don't tolerate a hunting in such grand scale, though tolerant against the illegality of the hunt, one of the films great controversies (the area of Norrland where the film takes place is often jokingly regarded as a place of illegal hunting, illegal booze-making and unemployness). Though Erik is on their trail, the Hunters (showed to be led by Tomme, including Erik's brother) driving around in the woods, drinking home-made alcohol and shooting from the driving car with illegal arms. Affected by the alcohol, they don't see clear and when one of them sees an elk and shoots, they stop the car and laughing hurries out to pick up the carcasse, which shows to be a illegal russian immigrant picking bears in the wood. Dead by the bullet, Tomme and the other calms down the shooter, puts the dead russian in the car and drives it to a marsh into which they push over the car, but as it sinks, a russian woman sees them and when trying to escape without being seen, she cracks a twig and they see her. Tomme hunts her to a hunting-tower up to which she tries to climb, Tomme's mentally retardated but kind brother lies up there, making small men out of wood. He sees her try to climb out but as Tomme pins her down (one of the strongest scenes in the film, where she cries and slowly is pulled down till she loses her grip) Tomme doesn't see his brother. He returns to the others, implying that he killed the russian woman (which is proved later, as her body is found in the woods with her throat slit).
The others have bad conscience and one wants to turn himself in but Tomme convinces him not to (saying, translated: "You don't have to touch the shit, all you do need to do is to shut up!"). They return to their lives but don't seem to want to hunt. Tomme, the most brutal of them and clearly the one with smallest conscience, keep flirting with a philippine girl at the pub in the small town, she despises him and he becomes angry. Arriving to her room at Erik's home (who is out), he insults her with, calling her a chinese negroe and whore. She replies "Shut up, fuck you!" and Tomme pins her down. Erik suddenly approaches from behing and beats Tomme unconcious, telling him that if he touches her again he'll kill him and then throws him out. Tomme exacts revenge by trapping the philippine woman alone when Erik is at work, cuts her clothes open with a knife and rapes her. She disappears, first implied to be dead but supposedly returning to the Philippines.
The body of the russian woman is found, and soon thereafter the car in the swamp and what's in it. Erik suspects Tomme and together with a beautiful female cop from Stockholm, played by (Helena Bergström), he starts to search for evidence. Soon he understands that Tomme's brother witnessed the murder of the russian woman (though he only saw the woman, he must've heard his brothers voice when he murdered her, from the tower). Erik searches up Tomme's brother and tries to convince him to tell him. He doesn't want to, but Erik tells him to lock the door and not to open to anyone but him. Tomme's brother nods, but when Erik leaves, Tomme unluckily saw him and understands that his brother is a witness. In the strongest scene of the film, Tomme and the others take out Tomme's brother to the woods (to "hunt"), gives him a rifle and tells him to go to a certain place. Tomme's brother walks away and Erik, realizing he is gone approaches. Suddenly Tomme's brother is surrounded by the hunters, understanding what they are going to do he cries and tries to shoot Tomme, but his rifle is empty. As the female police approaches by helicopter, the hunters shoot Tomme's brother (the most touching/tragic moment of the film) one bullet each and he dies. Later, it is obvious that Tomme killed his brother though it couldn't be proven it was murder as they blame they thought they shot at a bear. However, as Tomme returns to the pub he is told that he is not welcome there anymore, being stigmatized by the other residents. He finally gives up and confesses the murder of the russian woman and of his brother, another of them is pinned down and arrested by Erik when he tries to do the same but empties his rifle before succeding to hit. In the final moment, Erik lits his house ablaze and drives away in his car, back to Stockholm.

[edit] External link

• Jägarna at the Internet Movie Database