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    Captain Fantastic

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

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    Oh boy, do I have mixed feelings about this one. “Captain Fantastic” is undeniably well made. It features Vigo Mortensen who is absolutely convincing in his role. In fact, performances from the entire cast are great, a tough task considering many of them are teens or children. The story is original, it asks compelling questions… and yet, it focuses on characters that I hated so much that for the 2 hr running time, I couldn't stand "Captain Fantastic". And yet, that does not mean it's a bad film.

    Ben Cash (Mortensen), along with his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) have been living off the grid for 10 years, raising their six children to hunt their own food, survive in the wilderness and understand that the civilized world is ruled by greedy corporations who feed the people garbage to render them docile. After learning that Leslie has committed suicide in the psychiatric hospital that was treating her bipolar disorder, the family decides to attend her funeral despite warnings by Leslie's father (Frank Langella) that should they and their outlandish ways attend, Ben'll be arrested.

    I struggled hard to separate my personal feelings from my review of this film due to my strong opinion on survivalists. I understand homeschooling. If you’ve got the time and patience to raise your children at home, go ahead. Fill in the gaps where the government school system drops the ball, take the opportunity to teach your children at a pace that’s right for them. Maybe you feel that your province/state deliberately sugar coats history. I’d be upset if I was living in Texas and the Atlantic slave trade was described as bringing “millions of workers” to plantations in the American South. I applaud that choice. That’s taking control of the situation, making an educated decision and, since government officials check regularly, children are ensured to receive the same, if not better education than their peers. Sure, it may not be a perfect system - you might have trouble asking a girl out on a date come your teenage years - but what model is? My issue comes with the extremists out there, the people that say “I don’t approve of the system, but I’m going to run away from it instead of living among it where I could make a difference. I’m taking my children out in the wild where we’re going to hunt food, we’re going to live as far away from other people as possible, we won’t have a phone in case there’s an emergency and they won’t have access to libraries, music, newspapers or any form of art or literature – unless I decide to buy it and provide it to them." How are you different from a cult, pumping your children full of theologies from people that actually lived in the real world instead of hiding in the bushes with their hands clapped over their ears? You might beg to differ, pointing out that your children know how to climb a mountain, skin a deer or set a broken bone. All great skills, but why’d you have to isolate them from the real world to teach them? I'll tell you why: because you’re a coward, you're quick to judge others but don't want to be judged yourself and you're delusional.

    “Captain Fantastic” was pushing my buttons over and over. For this reason, it transformed me into a seething ball of red-hot rage. Nonetheless, there are undeniable good things about it. The characters are well developed and realistic. Despite my reservations about Mortensen’s character Ben, there’s no denying that he’s a complex man. Stubbornly determined to raise his children the way he sees best and aggressively judgemental, but also reasonable when it comes to arguments, honest, and eager to listen to what his children have to say. What drives this man to do what he does is love, an emotion that renders him blind. It's fascinating to watch. Your eyes are fixated on the screen as you wait to see when the other shoe is going to drop and he’ll realize that deep down, his children love him and the home he’s built for them, but they also want to live in the real world where there are video games, hot dogs, Christmas, and books written by authors that are still alive. You don't see characters as complex and realistic as these in any run-of-the-mill picture.

    This story is a great conversation starter. It shows you both sides of the argument, even if it leans a lot more towards one direction than the other. This journey that they go on calls Ben out on his choices. The things they do along the way shake the man and the audience to the core. I think “Captain Fantastic” is biased, particularly in its overly exaggerated display of real life being a cesspool of ignorance and wastefulness, but it does acknowledge that this is not an issue that is purely black-and-white. If the film didn’t feature brilliant performances and smart writing, it wouldn’t be able to get away with this story that features both profoundly melancholic breakdowns and moments of pure jubilation. The movie drove me crazy, particularly during the conclusion, which I think forgets to wrap everything up tightly, but I have to give it credit for one thing: I’m not going to be able to get “Captain Fantastic” out of my head anytime soon.

    I don’t know what the title of “Captain Fantastic” means. I would’ve called it “Survivalist are dumb… or are they? ” but hey, that’s just me. I’ll take a film that causes genuine emotion to erupt in me over one that bores or insults my intelligence any day. Even if it's solely so I can turn to the person next to me and ask them “So what did you think? ” Partially whimsical, in some ways upsetting and admittedly thought-provoking, this family drama has a lot more meat in it than your average picture.

    I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to "Captain Fantastic", despite its characters and story. I’m much too in love with glass, metal and stone to fall in love with these people and the story's arguments. I also think that since you’ve made it this far into this review, you’re smart enough to handle this material and make up your own mind and I recommend the picture. (Theatrical version on the big screen, August 7, 2016)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  10.8.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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