September
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Captain Fantastic (2016)
Subversive films are often camouflaged behind genre or movie titles. Many are promoted as action thrillers, dramas and even comedy but in reality carry dystopian themes about the breakdown of modern civilisation. Some recent examples of subversive films are High Rise (2016), Money Monster (2015) and 99 Holmes (2015). The film Captain Fantastic (2016) is also subversion in camouflage, with a clever title that evokes a mythical super-hero but in reality is about someone who trains his offspring military-style to prepare for the moral decay of modern civilisation.
Enlightened counter-culturalist Matt Ross (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife have raised six children in a utopian paradise buried deep in the Washington forests. His wife has been absent for months, hospitalised with mental illness, while Matt continues to home-school and train the kids in survival, combat and hunting. They are well-versed in philosophy, political theory and literature, are all musical and know how to live with nature. Matt sneers at religion so Christmas is ignored and they celebrate Noam Chomsky Day as rebellion against Christian society.
Matt is a firm, loving father and expects the children to live by his offbeat moral code, but they know nothing of how town-folk live or of the technological world outside. They expect the unfiltered truth about everything so when the eight year-old asks about sexual intercourse the factual reply would shock modern parents. None has ever seen a video game, they have no idea of what Coke tastes like and ogle in amazement at the size of people eating in McDonalds. When they head to the city for their mother’s funeral the encounter with the ‘real world’ is both hilarious and confronting.
On some levels, this story is so fanciful that it could be regarded as simply an eccentric family comedy. When we hear the eight-year old analyse the American Bill of Rights, or the ten-year old quote from Karl Marx, or see all six kids engaged in elite athlete training including extreme rock-climbing in dangerous weather, it is clear we are not meant to take the whole story seriously. At another level however, this is one of the most refreshing, heart-warming and thought-provoking films in quite a while. It is especially endearing in depicting the many small moments where natural honesty confronts civilised artifice. Mortensen has a dominant presence, the acting and personalities of the six children are delightful, and the wilderness photography is beautiful. But believability is so over-stretched that what could have been a brilliant film settles instead for being a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable fable about conformity and difference.
Director: Matt Ross
Stars: Viggo Mortensen, George Mackay, Samantha Isler
CineMuseFilms 
I’m curious about this one. Might check it out soon.
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I’m glad you liked it.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by “stretched believability”?
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Sure Steve. In the real world of parenting it is not out-of-field to have one gifted child. But to have six accomplished in so many fields of knowledge and be elite warrior athletes who are as one with nature sets this story up as a fable. As with all fables, one needs to suspend disbelief to in order to engage with the moral of the story.
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So it would help suspend disbelief if one or two of the children were failures?
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That could serve as a grounding device that would be closer to recognisable reality. Perfection in offspring (or any human) is a wonderful dream.
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Well, I mean they’re all academically gifted, but none of them are socially gifted. I get what you’re saying anyway.
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I think you hit one of the fable’s nails on the head Steve. The irony is that they are free of the artifice and dishonesty that passes as social gifts hence their social interactions may be naive but pure, natural and honest. Also the internal social order within the family would be admired by many parents.
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Well yeah, I figured that that was the point: it showed you two extremes and showed the dangers of both. In the end, Mortensen’s character finds stability and happiness in the middle of these extremes
I just don’t think it kills believability, not if their universal intelligence didn’t conveniently solve all of their problems (which it doesn’t)
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I get your comment about stretched believability. However, that didn’t bother me too much as I understood the film in the context of fable. It had an Orwellian feel to me. I loved the celebration of Noam Chomsky Day! So many issues were poked. I think the one issue I would have liked to have seen handled a little differently, or perhaps handled more, was the issue of mental health. It was there, in the shadows, but I think more could have been done with it. I agree with your star rating.
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Interesting point Linda. I could feel the shadow but because it was not in foreground I let it lie. Its valid to ask why plot for a specific illness that ended the way it did if it had no relevance to the fable itself.
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Interestingly, initially I assumed she was sick with cancer. I thought there were references to treating her with “toxins” but I may be all wet about that. At some point later, I realized that she was mentally ill.
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Certainly sounds like an interesting film, even if it does stretch its idea somewhat.
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Aww, was hoping for a higher score! I agree that some elements were exaggerated to all hell, but IMO, that is what makes comedy. Ask any comedian, they’ll tell you exaggeration of at least one point is key to a joke landing. I loved this, so thought-provoking, so funny, amazing soundtrack….. and of course, VIGGO!!! 😀
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I agree with you Jordan, and in my books 3 and a half stars is a good film. A lighter touch in some places might have had greater impact, but hey, I loved it to the very end.
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Me too 🙂 I couldn’t help but give it a full score, it just made me laugh so much, made me think, and Viggo seemed so comfortable in a comic setting!
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‘At another level however, this is one of the most refreshing, heart-warming and thought-provoking films in quite a while. It is especially endearing in depicting the many small moments where natural honesty confronts civilised artifice. ‘ – Very much so, and I agree with Rangewriter above too. I felt it might have been a little more towards the Brazil end of the scale or a little more towards the more realistic end but it certainly did its very best and was very entertaining whilst making points that are rarely made in films these days. I thought he was great as the lead, it needed someone who can hold the screen like that, and much as I’m no fan of children in films particularly, they did a fine job too, espeically the eldest lad and the girl with the animal hat (as specific as ever here). I hope some people watched it because they were extecting a super-hero film in the usual, severely repetituous formula we get these days, as they’ll have been treated to a piece far more entertaining and thought provoking. Noam Chomsky Day!
By the way, I have forgotten to say many times but I read your extra writing, the essay; it took me a good while for I am slow at reading these days, but it was brilliant. Well done that man.
– Esme Cloud always forgetting everything ever
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Thanks for your lofty thoughts from on high Esme. I’ve often thought that three and a half stars was harsh, especially given that long lingering pleasant afterglows are a sign of a good movie.
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