“Blu-ray or Bust” - CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

“Blu-ray or Bust”

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (2016, R, 120 minutes, ELECTRIC CITY ENTERTAINMENT)

Parenting ain’t no easy thang. Trying to do it in the woods, with no communication with the outside world? Only possible if you are Viggo Mortensen.

As “Ben”, Mortensen spends his days raising his six kids in the woods, training them to become ‘warrior philosophers’. Might sound a bit extreme, but it isn’t when you get to know this rather unique family. He has taught the kids not only how to hunt and defend themselves, but he and his estranged wife have also raised them to think for themselves, and to view world politics and religions as manmade constructs that enable consumerism and…wait…sorry, but when the designated eight-year-old of the film can go from defending the Bill of Rights in one scene to cursing at a gravesite in another, your brain gets kinda warped after a bit.

It also gets a little warped when you see Viggo Mortensen’s ding-dong waving hello to the world. Literally. You can almost hear the damn thing going, “Hey, everybody! I’m Viggo Mortensen’s ding-dong!”

The brilliance of this film, and its performers (no, not talking about the dingy), is that you totally buy into each individual personality and how this way of life seems idyllic for this particular family dynamic. What starts off seeming like the darkest chapter of “Lord of the Flies” quickly becomes the norm. It is when they are introduced to society through the death off a close relative that they start to realize their singular shortcomings. They may have an extreme amount of book knowledge, but existing in “the real world” is an alien experience for them.

The writing is fresh, the dialogue oftentimes hilarious, and the actors all do an exemplary job with what limited time they each have to work. There are a few scenes which are unnecessarily predictable, and are the only times this movie steers toward normal Hollywood ambivalence. You occasionally get the feeling that writer/director Matt Ross is trying to appease too many audiences at once, when really all you want him to do is tell this family’s story. Stop pandering to modern-day movie-goer sensibilities, Mr. Ross; you caught our attention with the bus named “Steve”, stop kowtowing to predictability.

There is only one four-minute doc for a special feature, which is really a shame. Child actors usually add a plethora of interesting tidbits for a gag reel or interviews, but all you get is what amounts to a long commercial. There is very little insight as to how these performers did working together “in the wild”, or what sort of training they had to go through in order to learn how to properly use hunting knives.

This film is funny, tragic, heart breaking, and, at times, a wonderful ode to parenting. Just don’t believe that it is perfectly okay to give an eight year old the gift of a hunting knife, okay? I didn’t say the parenting skills on display here were perfect…

Film Grade: B+

Special Features: D

Blu-ray Necessary: Recommended

-T.S.Kummelman