Captain Fantastic (2016)

-Watched at the Provincetown International Film Festival- 

Here ya go, one of them “quirky” feel-mostly-good indie hits. Fun for the whole family! But for real, I really enjoyed this film. I even cried (more than once) alongside the rest of the sniffling audience. I don’t do that very often with films. Actor-turned-Director Matt Ross did a phenomenal job making a film about love, loss and the importance of values.  

I recently got into a pretty intense debate over all of this new Virtual Reality technology and declared it “against my beliefs.” Those beliefs being one where everyone doesn’t have their eyes glued to some sort of digital technology more often than not. (Yes, I realize I’m typing this on my laptop.) For the past year my siblings and I have been jokingly planning to start our own family compound to separate ourselves from this modern society. I don’t ever want to exist in a world where everyone regularly has devices strapped to their heads so that they can live in a digital space. I want to hike in the mountains, look at the trees and flowers, feel the sun on my shoulders and breath fresh air. Fuck VR. Anyway, with this recent technology emergence and my somewhat newfound fanaticism for nature and the tactile world, watching this film was a big AW YEAH BABY. 

Viggo Mortensen stars as the father of his 6-child clan living in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. They rely on their physical strength, skills and knowledge to survive and learn about the world around the them.  That’s what I’m talkin ‘bout! Unfortunately the story is also a bit tragic, hence the crying. They are faced with a personal tragedy and choose to venture out into the real world, which proves more difficult than they probably anticipated. The actors are perfectly casted, especially the kids! They all hold a beautiful depth, backed up by a well-written script from Matt Ross. I went through all of their emotions with them, easily. 

I think it’s safe to say that everything in life should have some balance. You can blog about your hikes after you do them, and you can be close to your family without excluding the outside world. But remember to keep things into perspective- love your real family more than your Pokemon, Instagram followers and Sims family. I hope this film encourages people to get their butts off the couch and get outside! I’m watching the sunset as I type this, and boy is it beautiful. 

I don’t recommend watching this trailer because it covers every plot point of the entire film, but in case you can’t help yourself, here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAIEnDWhzf0