Captain Fantastic is about a man named Ben Cash (played by Viggo Mortensen) who wishes to transform his children into extraordinary adults by training them deep in the forest of the Pacific Northeast, completely removed from the outside world. As a result, his children grow up knowing no other families than themselves, and no other reality than the one they have been brought up in. His children receive rigorous mental and physical education. Ben has his own way of parenting that makes him a misfit in society.
The result? His youngest daughter can recite the Bill of Rights. All his children have learned to climb treacherous mountains. His eldest son can explain sexual intercourse in all its theoretical glory but has never been with a woman. All these take place while his wife is away at a mental institution for bipolar disorder. By now you have probably thought, what a bizarre story.
The disruption comes in the form of a late night news. His wife’s death forces them out of their shell in the forest, as they have to attend the funeral in the city. Suddenly, their world views are being challenged, especially Ben’s. He is arrogant about his “progressiveness”. He does not believe in organised religion, does not agree with what the church wants to do with his wife’s body, does not agree with the way children in ‘mainstream society’ are taught in school and at home, and does not want to conform. He is convicted in his heart. He is his own religion and his children have to follow along. Then, surprisingly, even to himself, a series of events challenges him to reflect upon all that he holds dear, most of all the way he brings them up.
The film makes us sympathetic, both towards Ben and towards the outside world, the world as we know it. In the end he has to reach a compromise, and know that he is not entirely wrong, but he is not perfect. Still, there are some things that he will never compromise to keep his authentic self intact.
In a world full of differences, people are often divided by their differing world views in one way or another. Be it in politics (eg. the classic Democrat versus Republican in America), among religions, between the religious and the non-religious, or innumerable other ideologies, there is always that grey area that tells us, our own world views aren’t perfect, and other world views aren’t completely wrong either.
In this day and age, Captain Fantastic explores exactly that grey area. Amidst the comedy in every scene (this is a film that tries not to take itself too seriously), there is something to take away from all this. I am amazed by how nuanced it is.
Captain Fantastic is out at the theatres.
