The song of the forest wails as a woman tells her son the story of a medieval priest's pauper army headed to free the holy land suffers misfortune in a particular forest the pair inhabit when the crusaders corner a young local girl who the forest awakes to protect proving that the company of nature is often better than that of man.
Eve (Lucy Debay) is the project leader for a foreign construction project getting push back from the local workers. Her boss drives her to be tougher on the crew from afar. Eve vows to get the project moving not needing any assistance from any of the males at her firm. She dodges her partner Alex as she forms her plan of attack for tomorrow. Bored in her hotel room she heads out for a walk popping into a mostly empty cub for a drink. A drunk businessman hits on her when a seemingly nice guy (Arieh Worthalter) intervenes. The evening is going well with the guy until the pair leave to take their affair private. Eve is in the back of a car with him when his supposed brother (Ciaran O'Brien) enters the front seat. Eve slowly realizes that she is a target of a kidnapping ending up escaping into the same woods discussed in the prologue.
Director Vincent Paronnaud crafts a story that will have the viewer frustrated to the point of talking at the screen during the opening stanzas. Eve has clear opportunities to get away from the situation that she doesn't see, realize, or take. Fortune turns against her captors after the incident that leads the trio into the forest followed by a violent breakdown of their alliance.
Eve's survival skills truly kick in when she escapes from her date for a second time sensing that the forest is on her side. She lets out a primal scream grabs a natural weapon and is transformed into a being that is more dangerous to her wounded former tormentor than he is to her. The forest has picked sides and the bad guy is on the wrong end.
Luce Debay and Arieh Worthalter play well off each other and they switch back and forth trading off who has the upper hand. It's a primal deathmatch that ends up in the most unlikely surroundings for the final act. The driving beat of the rhythmic score heightens the urgency and intensity of the battle until nature steps in once again to show that the company of animals is often better than that of men.
*** Out of 4.
Hunted | Vincent Paronnaud | Belgium/France | 2020 | 87 Minutes.
Tags: Construction Project, Visiting Supervisor, Taser, Kidnapping, Duct Tape,The Forest , Mojitos, Paint Ball, Open House, Security Guard, Guard Dog.
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