![]() ![]() Caring but dictatorial, idealistic but often blind, he’s a fascinating figure and, in bringing him to life, Mortensen gives his best performance yet. And this is a thoughtful examination of the fragility of any idyll under pressure from the imperfect world outside.īut all of it is anchored and, like the family itself, dominated by Mortensen’s Ben, who’s both the hero and the villain. There’s arguably a discussion of American values too, contrasting Ben’s frontier ideals with the consumerist gleam beyond his woods. 'My goal was to create a movie that was intellectually stimulating and emotionally moving.' One of my favorite films of the year is called Captain Fantastic, starring Viggo Mortensen as the father. It’s also a sharp portrayal of modern life and its hypocrisies and limitations the outsider perspective of these sheltered kids venturing down the mountain in contrast with their video-game obsessed cousins. It’s an engaging road movie about an eccentric clan discovering the wider world, with some beautifully played fish-out-of-water commentary - not always at the expense of the mountain family. It’s a fairly simple plot but Matt Ross’ debut film is so dense with metaphor that you can read it on any of a number of levels. He fears for the purity of mind he has sought to instil in them amid the world’s temptations, and for his own continued custody of them when Jack attacks their unconventional way of life. When Ben takes his brood across country to their mother’s funeral, despite the warnings of his father-in-law Jack (Frank Langella), who blames him for his daughter’s death, to stay away, it’s an eye-opening journey of discovery for the kids. ![]() While Ben inspires and drives his family, he is yet to realise that he is also limiting their experience. The children - led by George McKay as eldest son Bo - are strong, healthy and extraordinarily knowledgeable about all manner of esoteric subjects, but they have no real understanding of the outside world. Their life looks dreamy, shot with sunbeams slanting through the trees of an apparently virgin forest. They hunt game, race up mountains for exercise and gather around the campfire to read each evening: George Eliot for the little ones, quantum physics for the teens. ![]() Viggo Mortensen, who seems only loosely tied to modern life at the best of times, plays the high-minded dreamer who takes his family into the woods and raises his kids in their own personal idyll. ![]()
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