Review of Captain Fantastic (2016) by Mayank A — 12 Mar 2017

Viggo Mortensen stars in Captain Fantastic. Mortensen is Ben, a man who is raising his kids in the forest. He teaches them how to hunt and survive on their own in the wilderness. He educates and home schools all of them, and because of it they can criticize literature, cite history, and even speak 6 languages. The oldest son has offers from all the top universities in the country. When their mother commits suicide, they must migrate to the city and face the real world.

As they journey through civilization, the children have to interact with the world, and are exposed to modern elements, technology and things they do not understand. Ben is completely open and does not even hide or sugar coat anything to his children even if it regards sex, death, suicide, or simply drinking wine under age. Their aunt challenges him and says they belong in a modern school, he proves her otherwise as they can recite more than either of her sons. What is clearly lacking is the sense of communication and interaction. This is demonstrated the oldest son first interacts with a girl and has no idea what to do. At one point is Ben's method of raising his children truly superior and borders on what many others would consider to be child abuse. When two of his children suffer injuries and his parents grandfather question his tactics, he truly begins to question his own parenting methods.

Captain Fantastic is an intriguing film that is original and has an independent and non-Hollywood driven feel to it. The film stars off by wowing you with the way the children behave and you are impressed by their knowledge. The comparisons and shots it takes at the modern education system, and religion indeed have some relevance. The film also comments on the obesity of children and the status of healthcare. Had the film pressed on these more and brought more of light to these issues would have made the film more compelling. Mortensen's performance which is academy nominated is worth watching as he does help drive would have been a dreadfully boring film. He shows a complete range emotion and you feel for him and his children and get the sense he does care for his children, but many sometimes get in his own way. It is a tough film to recommend and Captain Fantastic will not sit well with most audiences, and I too wished the film had a bit more to offer.

-3.8.2017.