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The Hunt (2020), the Movie Trump Was Wrong to Criticize

The Hunt, El American

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The Hunt is an American comedy horror film, released in 2020 and directed by Craig Zobel. Written by one of the screenwriters of the famous series Lost, Damon Lindelof, and Nick Cuse -son of Carlton Cuse, co-writer of LostThe Hunt stars Betty Gilpin and Hilary Swank. The film was surrounded by controversy prior to its release, but, once released, has gone relatively unnoticed.

It was originally intended for release in September 2019, but was postponed after the shootings in Dayton and El Paso in August. In addition, when its trailer was made public that same August, Donald Trump posted a tweet in which, without explicitly mentioning the film, he said that Progressive Hollywood was “racist at the highest level. The movie that is about to be released is made to provoke and cause mayhem. They create their own violence, and then try to blame it on others.”

The trailer revealed that the premise of the film was that Progressive elite millionaires kidnapped Republican citizens to be murdered in a kind of macabre hunt. The makers of The Hunt had stated that the film was intended to be a satire on the political polarization in the United States between the left and the right.

It was finally released in March 2020, but just happened to coincide with the shutdown due to the pandemic, which caused the anticipation for the film to be diluted. Now it is available on streaming platforms and we have been able to see just how wrong Trump was about The Hunt.

Coming from Progressive Hollywood, and given the film’s marketing campaign, it’s no wonder Trump blew up and used his now defunct Twitter account to attack it, but in reality, he couldn’t have been more confused. If the film could be accused of having political bias, if anything, it would be anti-Progressive.

The Hunt’s plot

The film begins by showing a chat of a group of Progressive millionaires outraged by the President’s statements, but excited about an upcoming event: a mansion hunt for “deplorables.” “Deplorables” refers to an expression used by Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, with which she called many of Trump’s supporters by that name.

The film shows that, indeed, after having kidnapped and sedated them they would be loaded them onto a private plane. These leftist millionaires were dedicated to the task of hunting down and murdering people who had posted messages on social networks that they considered “racist”, “homophobic” or “far-right conspiracy theories”.

The bad guys in The Hunt are ruthless killers, but yes, very Progressive. They don’t mind shooting, blowing up or dismembering innocent right-wingers, but they are very concerned about not offending people of color by calling them black, or taking advantage of their “white privilege,” or assuming the gender of their interlocutors.

the hunt
Image of The Hunt (Universal Pictures)

Obviously, The Hunt displays black and very macabre humor, but its portrayal of Progressives is merciless, hilariously exposing their incoherence and totalitarian mentality.

In a flashback scene in which they are planning the hunt and torture of “Trumpists” there are very comical situations. When they are casting candidates to be their prey, they argue about whether or not to include a black Republican. Some think that killing him would be racist, others think that not including him would be a lack of diversity. When one of the organizers, dressed in a kimono, talks about his homicidal desires, what shocks his Progressive friends is that his dress is a cultural appropriation.

This kind of mockery of the leftist mentality -totalitarian, and murderous at heart, but somehow disguised as beautiful sentiments and tolerance- is constant throughout the film, making it one of the sharpest and most biting critiques of Progressivism in recent memory.

Reactions to The Hunt

Some media outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter wrote that during test screenings to groups of viewers, these said they were uncomfortable with the political content of the film. This is not surprising, since these test screenings were held in Los Angeles, California.

The criticism of The Hunt by Trump and some Conservative critics could not have been more unfortunate. Confused by the trailer and being accustomed to Hollywood Progressivism, they probably issued their criticisms without having seen the film. In fact, the film’s promotion highlights that it is “the most talked about film this year, but no one has seen it yet.”

Now that it is streaming, we trust that they will correct their mistake, and appreciate it as an accurate and stinging critique of the Progressive elite the way it really is. Mind you, on Twitter we will no longer be able to read Donald Trump’s reaction, if he finally decides to watch it.

Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.

Social Networks: @ignaciomgm

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