Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn, George MacKay, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Charlie Shotwell, Ann Dowd, Erin Moriarty, Missi Pyle
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Dramedy written and directed by Matt Ross. Captain Fantastic (2016) centers on a devoted father, Ben (Viggo Mortensen), who has dedicated his life to transforming his six young children into extraordinary adults with a rigorous physical and intellectual education deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, isolated from society. When a tragedy strikes the family, they are forced to leave this self-created paradise and begin a journey into the outside world that challenges Ben’s idea of what it means to be a parent and brings into question everything he’s taught them.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'Always tell the truth. Always take the high road. Live each day like it could be your last. Drink it in. Be adventurous, be bold, but savor it. It goes fast.' - Ben (Captain Fantastic) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Ben: What we’ve created here maybe unique in all of human existence. We’ve created a paradise.
Leslie: What we’re doing out here is so incredible. The kids are amazing.
Zaja: I miss mom.
Ben: Mom needs to be in the hospital right now.
Leslie’s Father: This is your fault.
Ben: Leslie had a disease.
Leslie’s Father: Wherever you are, stay there. You show up, I will have you arrested.
Ben: [to the kids] We can’t go to mommy’s funeral. We have to do what we’re told.
Zaja: We want to see mom! Grandpa can’t oppress us.
Ben: [as he drives the kids into the city] Right now this is your first real test. Remember your training.
Bodevan: [looking at the menu] They have hot dogs!
Zaja: What’s Cola?
Ben: Poison water.
Nai: What does rape mean?
Ben: When a person, usually a man, forces another person, usually a woman, to have sexual intercourse.
Nai: Oh.
Ben: Who’s hungry?
Kids: Me! Me!
Nai: What’s sexual intercourse?
Ben: When a man sticks his p**is in a woman’s v***na. Everyone keep their eyes peeled for deer.
Nai: Why would a man stick his p**is in a woman’s v***na?
Ben: Because it can give them both pleasure. And because the combination of a man’s sperm and a woman’s egg can create a baby and continue the human race.
Nai: But that’s where she pees.
Ben: Pee comes not from the v***na, but from the urethra, which is within the outer labia. But generally speaking, yes, that is where she pees. Everyone keep your eyes open for game of any kind.
Harper: [referring to the cooked chickens] It’s all local, it’s organic.
Zaja: How did you kill those chickens? With an axe or a knife?
Harper: They’re, it’s a rotisserie chicken so you buy it on, it’s already dead.
Dave: [to Harper] The kids need structure, they need to go to a real school.
Ellen: [after she catches Bodevan and Ellen’s daughter making out] I sincerely hope you haven’t been doing what I think you’ve been doing.
Bodevan: Your daughter has taught me many things just now.
Bodevan: [kneels down in front of Ellen’s daughter and takes her hand] Will you be my wife?
Bodevan: [to Ben] Unless it comes out of a book I don’t know anything!
Leslie’s Father: Even if they make it through whatever it is you’re doing to them, they’re going to be totally unprepared for the real world.
Ben: And I happen to think the opposite is true.
Leslie’s Father: It’s child abuse.
Ben: [referring to the arrow] That almost hit me!
Leslie’s Father: If I wanted to hit you I would have hit you.
Leslie’s Father: [to Ben] Abbey and I have decided that we’re going to file for custody of the children.
Kielyr: Will they take us away from you?
Ben: That’s a possibility.
'If you assume that there is no hope, then you guarantee that there will be no hope.' - Rellian (Captain Fantastic) Click To Tweet
Nai: Let’s dig. Otherwise she has to lie under that bulls**t forever.
Ben: [as he prepares to cremate his wife] My face is mine. My hands are mine. My mouth is mine. But I’m not. I’m yours.
Ben: Our children shall be philosopher kings. It makes me so indescribably happy.
Ben: [taking over the eulogy from the minister] First of all, Leslie practiced Buddhism, which to her was a philosophy and not an organized religion. In fact, Leslie abhorred all organized religions. To her, they were the most dangerous fairy tales ever invented, designed to elicit blind obedience, and strike fear into the hearts of the innocent and the uninformed. To her, the only thing worse than death would have been the knowledge that her rotting flesh was to be trapped for all eternity inside a big box, and buried in the middle of a f***ing golf course. Although the absurdity of being eulogized by someone that didn’t even know her has exactly the kind of comedic flourish that Leslie would have cherished. If nothing else, she had a sense of humor. I want to read something to all of you, so you’ll know what I mean.
Ben: [reads from the piece of paper] Leslie’s last will and testament. And I quote, “In the event of my death, I, Leslie Abigail Cash, as a Buddhist, wish to be cremated. My funeral, such as it is, shall be a celebration of the life cycle, with music and dancing. After, it is my expressed desire that my ashes shall be taken to a nondescript location, preferably public and heavily populated. At which point my ashes, promptly and unceremoniously, are to be flushed down the nearest toilet.” End quote. Now that’s comedy.
Ben: When you have sex with a woman, be gentle and listen to her. Treat her with respect and dignity, even if you don’t love her.
Bo: I know.
Ben: Always tell the truth. Always take the high road.
Bo: I know.
Ben: Live each day like it could be your last. Drink it in. Be adventurous, be bold, but savor it. It goes fast.
Bo: I know.
Ben: Don’t die.
Bo: I won’t.
Rellian: “If you assume that there is no hope, then you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world.”
Ben: Noam Chomsky.
Ben: There’s no cavalry. No one will magically appear and save you in the end.
Bo: I just want to go to college.
Ben: You speak six languages. You have high math, theoretical physics! This is what I’m talking about! What the hell are these people going to teach you?
Bo: I know nothing! I know nothing! I am a freak because of you! You made us freaks! And mom knew that! She understood! Unless it comes out of a f***ing book, I don’t know anything about anything!
Harper: Ben, you sound so ridiculous.
Ben: Is knowing how to set a broken bone or how to treat a severe burn ridiculous? Knowing how to navigate by the stars in total darkness, that’s ridiculous? How to identify edible plants, how to make clothes from animal skins, how to survive in the forest with nothing but a knife? That’s ridiculous to you?
Kielyr: We’re defined by our actions, not our words.
Trailer:
This movie is something else. Second feature film by Matt Ross introduces us to an eccentric family living somewhere in the forests of North America. Imagine a mishmash of Moonrise Kingdom, Little Miss Sunshine and The Room, and you will get the feel of this family drama. Cast is led by Viggo Mortensen, including couple of familiar faces such as Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn and Frank Langella, and six newcomers, who by the looks of these performances have a lot in store for us.
What is it about? Simply put, Ben (Mortensen) is a widower with six kids, living in a forest and without another human being in sight. Tickled your fancy? There’s more. At the very beginning, we learn that kids have unique names, unique way of living, studying and understanding the world around them. As the story unfolds, we find out what happened to their mother and how that affects them all. Ben is forced to accept the reality and the consequences which this alternative lifestyle has brought to his children. All of them are exceptionally smart and well-read, but slowly some of them come to the realization that they are not capable to live in the “real” world. Yes, they know American law and political theories, yes, they can climb a mountain and hunt, but faced with modern-day world they cannot function.
Although this movie makes fun of the American educational system in a very comical scene, it also shows a negative side of homeschooling. Zaja (Shree Crooks) is almost too smart for her age and one cannot shake the feeling that it would be better for her to enjoy her childhood. Same goes for the rest of them, including oldest son Bo (George MacKay) who hilariously experiences his first crush. Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton), the middle son, is the first one who openly rebels against his father’s ways and decides to stay with his grandparents. A decision, which, you guessed, wasn’t kindly welcomed.
Ben is painfully honest with his children; he doesn’t hide anything from them and most definitely doesn’t sugarcoat anything. His beliefs are clashing with those of his sister Harper (Hahn) and her husband Dave (Zahn). But what else could be expected of a father who lets all of his children drink alcohol, gives them real knives and “The Joy of Sex”? Contradictions in his approach are visible though; he teaches them that it is okay to make fun of Christians, but then they act as a Christian sect in order to scare away a policeman. They steal food at the supermarket through a thought out con. Only when a near fatal tragedy is evaded, does Ben stop to think about his actions. That and the prospect of losing his children serve as a wake-up call.
This moving and thought-provoking movie offers a display of parental love, an extreme case of it, but nevertheless love. If you are looking for a decent indie sadcom this year with an exquisite folk soundtrack, you found it. Captain Fantastic is that and much more.
Rating: 4/5
“When you have sex with a woman be gentle and listen to her. Treat her with respect and dignity even if you don’t love her. Always tell the truth. Always take the high road. Live each day as it could be your last. Drink it in. Be adventurous, be bold but enjoy it. It goes fast. Don’t die.”
This one one of my favorite parts in the movie and I LOVED the entire movie…
That’s just the quote I was looking for. Thank you.
Yes, thank you!!!
This was the best quote.
Me too!