In Matt Ross’ Captain Fantastic a family has
opted for a simple life in the wilderness of the
Pacific Northwest, turning their backs on what
they consider to be a corrupt system that
supports an inauthentic way of being in the
world. The children, Bodevan (George MacKay),
Kieyler (Samantha Isler), Vespyr (Annalise
Basso), Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton), Zaja (Shree
Crooks), and Nai (Charlie Shotwell) are united
in their disdain for consumer culture and the
quest for status. They are well versed in
philosophy, history and quantum theory, and can
hunt for food and show impressive physical
skills. Their politics are decidedly outside of
the mainstream.
Instead of celebrating Christmas, they pay
homage to progressive author Noam Chomsky on his
birthday, while 18-year-old Bo, the oldest son,
proclaims he is neither a Trotsky-ist or a
Trotsky-ite but a Maoist. The superhero Captain
Fantastic in this scenario is father Ben (Viggo
Mortensen) who assists the family in developing
survival skills, leading the children in
exercises worthy of marine boot camp. At night,
to their credit, they sit around the campfire at
night reading classic literature and discuss
weighty topics such as capitalism and how they
see the world. Apparently they have little use
for religion, especially Christians and
Christianity, but do have a fondness for
Buddhism, a religion in vogue right now.
The clan is shaken to its core when Ben tells
the family without sugar coating it that their
mother Leslie, a victim of bipolar disease, has
committed suicide. Though she has been
hospitalized for three months, nothing is said
about anyone in the family visiting her in the
hospital, not an example of Buddhist compassion.
According to Leslie’s will, she requested to be
cremated and Ben intends to carry out her wishes
in spite of strong opposition from Leslie’s
wealthy father (Frank Langella) who organizes a
Christian funeral service for his daughter. Ben
and the children pile into their rickety school
bus and head to New Mexico determined to rescue
their mother from the grave and the film
suddenly becomes a high energy road trip with a
few challenging adventures along the way.
Mortensen is impressive in the role of Ben as
are the actors who play his children and, as
usual, Langella is convincing in his role as a
wealthy man who is seemingly the epitome of
unrestrained capitalist excess. While Ben
is a loving father who eventually entertains the
strange notion of compromise, he is basically
little more than a caricature, an idealized
fantasy figure who creates what the director
must think a sixties commune must have been
like. Ben is raising his children to be
independent thinkers but does not create any
space for them to question his authority, and
the semi-robotic kids mouth their father’s ideas
rather than their own thoughts (Lolita
notwithstanding).
What is unfortunate is that these ideas do have
meaning. In the proper context, “Power to the
people” is much more than a mindless slogan.
While the children are home schooled and appear
to be very well educated, they do not seem to
have the skills to engage in the world outside
of their enclave. Bodevan, for example, accepted
in some of the top colleges and adept enough to
kill a deer single-handedly, cannot bring
himself to talk to a girl without immediately
proposing to her. While the ideals that the film
espouses are important, here they are
trivialized to the point of seeming shallow and
phony and there is no discussion of what the
word integrity means.
Killing an animal is a pathway to manhood?
Robbing a supermarket is “sticking it to the
man?” Tolerance is another casualty. "We don’t
laugh at people…" Ben tells the children during
the road trip "…except Christians." While there
is a legitimate discussion about conventional
and unconventional ways to raise children,
Captain Fantastic does not promote any serious
reflection. Perhaps if this holier than thou
family would come out of the wilderness and
participate in making a difference in the real
world we could be getting someplace.
GRADE: B
Howard Schumann
