Categories: Cinema

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC film review by Cate Marquis

(l to r) Samantha Isler stars as Kielyr, Shree Crooks stars as Zaja, Viggo Mortensen as Ben, Charlie Shotwell as Nai, Annalise Basso as Vespyr and George MacKay as Bo in CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, a Bleecker Street release. Photo: Cathy Kanavy / Bleecker Street ©

– By Cate Marquis –

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is fantastic

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC may sound like the title of comic book movie but this warm, thoughtful film centers on a different kind of hero, a father who has devoted his life to his children. He is a fantastic father, even if his ideas about how to raise his kids is far out of the mainstream, which comes to the fore when his family faces a life-altering crisis. CAPTAIN FANTASTIC is an emotionally moving film that mixes drama and humor to tell a story of an unconventional family who have to work through their grief to find a new way to interact with conventional society.

Viggo Mortensen turns in a wonderful performance as that father, Ben Cash. Ben and his wife Leslie left affluent conventional lives behind to raise their six children in a counter-culture utopia off the grid – way off the grid. Living deep in the woods of Washington state, the family is essentially camping out – no electricity, no running water, no phones. The children’s lives are built around physical fitness, self-reliance, resourcefulness and family unity, but Dad is also giving the kids a first-rate education. Assigning challenging reading in classic literature, science, history, he testing them on their knowledge and understand, forcing them to develop critical thinking skills.

As the film puts it, the parents are “creating paradise out of Plato.” Actually, it is a bit more Noam Chomsky…

READ THE FULL REVIEW AT WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS:

http://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2016/07/captain-fantastic-review/

catemarquis