Review of Captain Fantastic (2016) by Chiek E — 25 Dec 2016

A fantastic home schooling movie. Virgo Mortensen was brilliant playing the father raising his six kids off the beaten track and away from the corrupting consumerism society by teaching his kids to live off the land.

The kids learnt to hunt with knives and arrows, slaughter wild game they caught and climb vertical cliffs by day. By night, the kids read classic literature, scientific books, calculus and learnt six languages by night.

However cracks in father Mortensen's perfect utopia appeared when his wife, and mother of his six children committed suicide. Bent on fulfilling his wife's will to be cremated, Virgo and the six kids journeyed into the real world to confront society, relatives and discover how far removed and eccentric their secluded lives have made them.

Sure the kids could recite the bill of rights and speak 6 languages, but they had no clue that Nike and Adidas were brand names of shoes nor had the oldest son any clue how to behave when he was smitten with his first love of a girl he met in the real world.

This is a powerful and important film not just for parents, but for all to view critically on how far we are removed from the natural world and how deeply we are mired in our modern world of consumerism and smart phone culture.

Most importantly, to think about the important values we want to pass on to our children.