Review of The Mosquito Coast (1986) by Petter S — 06 Apr 2009

Harrison Ford plays Allie Fox, the idealistic inventor who leaves the US behind fearing nuclear war and takes his family into the South American jungle hoping to build a better, sustainable life. This is a complex and eventually quite dark drama about obsession and the conflicts such narrow-minded determination causes.

Interestingly Allie's first attempt at something like utopia begins wonderfully, a true testament to human willpower and ingenuity. But when outsiders threaten to disturb the peace, things end in cataclysmic destruction and death, a nice contrast to Allie's own fears about the end of the modern world - his own ends first.

The cast is great, Ford particularly creating a hugely unlikeable megalomaniac - this is a slight weakness, as by the end there is very little sympathy for him as he recklessly puts his family through danger.

But in turn this turns the sympathy to his sons and wife, as they question their loyalty to him and are finally freed from his constraints. Very thought provoking, even if - and because - some narrative and thematic threads are left open and ambiguous.