Captain Fantastic – Not to be confused with Steve Rogers

‘Captain Fantastic’ is a film that I’ve had on my radar for quite some time.  I’d heard all good things about it before I sat down to watch it, so this normally meant that I find myself totally let down with what I got.  And, what I got was not what I expected.  I’ll admit to enjoying it and being glad that I have seen it, however, despite my good feelings towards it, I’m not sure it’s the sort of film that would inspire a repeat viewing any time soon. 

Viggo Mortensen (always worth a watch) plays a single father who looks after his children ‘on the land’ as you could call it.  They live together deep in a forest and have little to know contact with what we would describe as ‘civilisation.’ Here, Viggo teaches his brood how to survive using only nature and basic survival techniques that you wouldn’t get in your average comprehensive.  And they’re thriving – sort of.  They all agree with this way of life, but largely because it’s all they’ve ever known.  And, no matter how cool, Viggo is, he didn’t raise them on his own.  Early on we find that the children’s mother is in hospital and, sadly, she doesn’t come out again.  This is the catalyst which launches the family on a road trip to her home town (and awaiting parents who really don’t agree with their daughter’s lifestyle) for her funeral.  So, what you end up with is a real clash of cultures.  Obviously the father once lived among us ‘norms’ and most likely owned a mobile phone, mortgage and worked 9-5.  However, his children haven’t and we see how they react to this alien world.

I wonder whether people see this film differently if they have or haven’t got children.  Personally, as a parent, I understood the father’s desire to want to shelter his children from all the ‘horrors’ of the modern world.  No one wants to see their children exposed to dull, soulless 9-5 jobs, rubbish girlfriend/boyfriends and generally people who want to do them down at every turn.  However, as much as we want to wrap our children up and shield them from everything negative, we have to allow them the freedom to make their own mistakes.  This is the lesson of the film.  Not to mention how different people react to different ideals.  It’s fair to say that Viggo’s father-ion-law is not particularly happy with his son-in-law showing up and insisting that the funeral is held according to wishes of a dead person who can no longer confirm how she wanted to be mourned.

It’s all quite deep and high drama and I can see why such praise was heaped on it.  It asks questions about the way we live and the pros and cons of various lifestyles.  However, as I said at the beginning, despite liking it, I just found it’s not something I could watch again anytime soon.  In a few years time if I see that it’s on the telly and nothing else is on, I’ll definitely watch it again.  Just not worth buying on Blu-ray at full price.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that