Not only are you fed up with the trials and the tribulations of living in the “modern world”, you are determined to make sure that your family is too. So you take them deep into the forest of the Pacific Northwest and you raise them to live as you have come to imagine the human species was meant to be raised.
In other words, “intellectually, emotionally and physically fit”. In other words, considerably more in alignment with socialism than capitalism. Which, from Ben’s point of view, is right around the corner from fascism. And, let’s face it, until the working class finally does revolt against the powers that be, this may well be the only final solution. One family at a time as it were.
Of course all of this revolves entirely around how Ben has come to understand what this means himself. And always – always – with the very best of intentions.
On the other hand, while he tends to eschew the modern world there are still any number of things that connect him to it. So it’s really all about where he chooses to draw the line.
But even here the law of unexpected consequences prevails. The modern world catches up with him. In particular, when, out of the blue, he needs something that only the modern world can provide: a hospital for Mom. Then Mom dies. She commits suicide. Then in order to cremate her [as she had requested in her will], he finds himself being pulled back into “society”. And then Mom’s parents want to tug – yank – his children back into the mainstream with them. And God. And he is not about to let that happen. At least not without a fight.
Sometimes [admittedly] it is hard to tell: Is this a tribute to idealism or a mockery of it.
IMDb
[b]Director Matt Ross had the actors who portrayed the six kids sign a contract promising that they wouldn’t eat sugar or junk food for the duration of the filming.
In the campfire-scene at the beginning you can see Rellian reading “The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoyevski. The novel is about three brothers, who with increasing age, start to shun and rebel against the ways of their father. Just like Rellian himself does later on in the movie. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Fantastic_(film
trailer: youtu.be/D1kH4OMIOMc
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC [2016]
Written and directed by Matt Ross
Ben [to Bo after Bo has killed a deer]: Today, the boy is dead. And in his place is a man.
His ideals apparently don’t include animal rights.
[b]Ben: Vesp? How you getting along?
Vespyr: I just finished chapter 12, "the world on a string. "
Ben: What? Are you having any trouble with quantum entanglement? Planck length versus Planck time?
Vespyr: I’m fine.
Ben: Good. Then tomorrow after lunch, you can give a brief presentation on m-theory.
…
Ben: Mom needs to be in the hospital right now.
Vespyr: But you said hospitals are a great place to go if you’re a healthy person and you want to die.
Zaja: You said Americans are under-educated and over-medicated.
Kielyr: You said the AMA are avaricious whores only too willing to spread their fat legs for Big Pharma.
Ben: All those things are true. But mom does not have enough of the neurotransmitter serotonin to conduct electrical signals in her brain.
…
Ben [about the flirtatious girls]: Go talk to them. We got time.
Bo: Ask them what they think of the working people creating an armed revolution against the exploiting classes and their state structures?
Ben: Well, Marxists can be just as genocidal as capitalists.
Bo: Or whether or not she’s a dialectical materialist and accords primacy to the class struggle?
Ben: Avoid Marxism. Or telling her you’re a Trotskyite.
Bo: Trotskyist. Only a Stalinist would call a Trotskyist a Trotskyite. And I’m not a Trotskyist anymore. I’m a Maoist.
Ben: Right. I forgot, sorry.
…
Ben [on the phone with his sister]: How’s she doing? Harper?
Harper [sobbing]: Leslie killed herself last night.
Ben [after a pause]: How? Harper? Harper, tell me.
Harper: She slit her wrists.
…
Ben [to his children]: Last night, mommy killed herself. She finally did it. Your mother is dead. Nothing is going to change. We will go on living in exactly the same way. We’re a family.
…
Nai [who looks to be about 5 years old]: We don’t hate Nana and Grandpa, but the rest of their tribe are fascist capitalists.
Kielyr: You’re just repeating whatever dad says.
Nai: I’m writing down everything you say - in my mind.
Kielyr: Do you even know what a fascist is?
Nai: Violent nationalist militants, supported by big business, and they’re totalitarian single-party dictators.
…
Ben [to his children]: We can’t go to mommy’s funeral. We have to do what we’re told. Some fights, you can’t win. The powerful control the lives of the powerless. That’s the way the world works. It’s unjust and it’s unfair. But that’s just too damn bad. We have to shut up and accept it.
[he ponders what he just said to them]
Ben: Well, fuck that!
…
Ben [to his children as they pass endless strip malls and fast food restaurants]: Attention, all campers. This is your captain speaking. Here we have the embodiment of Calvin Coolidge’s statement that the business of America is business. Our democracy is one of the brightest lights of social justice in the history of humankind, and yet most of our fellow citizens engage in frenzied shopping as their primary form of social interaction. Come on down! Let’s go shopping! These prices are insane!
…
Kielyr [about the book she is reading, Lolita]: It’s disturbing.
Ben: More specific.
Kielyr: Can I just read?
Ben: After you give us your analysis thus far.
Kielyr: There’s this old man who loves this girl, and she’s only 12 years old…Because it’s written from his perspective, you sort of understand and sympathize with him, which is kind of amazing because he’s essentially a child molester. But his love for her is beautiful. But it’s also sort of a trick because it’s so wrong. You know, he’s old, and he basically rapes her. So it makes me feel…I hate him. And yet somehow I feel sorry for him at the same time.
Ben: Well done.
…
Nai [who looks to be about 4 or 5]: What does rape mean?
Ben [almost matter-of-factly]: When a person, usually a man, forces another person, usually a woman, to have sexual intercourse.
Nai: Oh. What’s sexual intercourse?
Ben: When a man sticks his penis in a woman’s vagina…Everyone keep their eyes peeled for deer.
Nai: Why would a man stick his penis in a woman’s vagina?
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 vagina, 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.
…
Kielyr: Okay, you can think that everyone is fat here, but we don’t make fun of people. Right, Dad?
Ben: That’s right. We don’t make fun of people.
Vespyr: Except Christians.
…
Rellian: What kind of crazy person celebrates Noam Chomsky’s birthday like it’s some kind of official holiday? Why can’t we celebrate Christmas like the rest of the entire world?
Ben: You would prefer to celebrate a magical fictitious elf, instead of a living humanitarian who’s done so much to promote human rights and understanding?..Okay, well, let’s have a discourse.
Rellian: Forget it.
Ben: No, explain. Take the opportunity to make your case. We’re all open to hearing your arguments. If they’re valid and you persuade us, I’m sure we’d all be willing to change our minds.
…
Nai [the 4 or 5 year old]: Dad, can I have some wine?
Ben: Sure. Why not?
Harper: Ben. No. Children don’t drink wine.
Ben: In France and other countries, children drink small amounts of wine all the time. It’s a digestive. It’s not crack.
Nai: What’s crack?
Ben: Crack is a crystallized, highly addictive derivative of the stimulant cocaine. In the mid-1980s, it accelerated the decimation of inner-city neighborhoods. Crackheads, some of them kids just like you guys, were killing each other over nothing, over their Nikes.
Nai: They killed each other for Nike? The Greek winged-goddess of victory?
…
Harper: We’re just doing the best we can, Ben. That’s all anybody is doing.
Ben: So am I! Just the best that we know how.
Harper: I’m sorry it doesn’t live up to your high standards!
Ben: I tell the truth to my kids. I don’t lie to my kids.
Harper: Protecting children from certain concepts that they are too young to understand is not lying to them.
…
Dave: The kids need structure, stability. They need to go to a real school, so they can get real jobs.
Harper: Oh, for Christ’s sake. You’re going to get them killed! I’m sorry. But your kids are without a mother now. I don’t think you have any idea what you’re doing to them.
Ben: I’m saving their lives. That’s what I’m doing.
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?
Harper: Jesus.
Ben: They have the cardiovascular and muscular endurance levels of elite athletes.
Harper: Who cares? They’re children! They need to go to school. They need to learn about the world.
…
Ben: Zaja. How would you characterize the 2010 Supreme Court decision on citizens united?
Zaja [who is 8]: Corporations have the same rights as people, so there’s no spending limit on candidates. Which means our country is ruled by corporations and their lobbyists who fund candidates and command their fealty by demanding that…
Harper: Jesus Christ. You made your point. We get it.
…
Claire: What kind of music do you listen to?
Bo: Mostly Bach. Mainly the Goldberg variations, especially Glenn Gould’s versions. I also like the unaccompanied cello suites, preferably when played by Yo-Yo Ma.
Claire: Where are you from?
…
Bo: We’re just back in the states because of my dad’s sabbatical. He’s writing a book on Dr. Spock.
Claire: Oh, I love Star Trek. It’s awesome.
Bo: Which star?
Claire: You know, Spock. The guy with the ears, he’s from Star Trek.
Bo: No, Dr. Spock was from Connecticut. Right after Yale, he wrote baby and child care in 1947. It’s one of the seminal books on child-rearing.
Claire: I was talking about that old TV show.
Bo: Oh.
…
Ben [commandeering 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 fucking 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.
[pulling out a piece of paper]
Ben: 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.
…
Jack: Abby and I are gonna take the children to the ceremony, and then you can follow us to the house.
Ben: They’re my kids. They’re staying with me.
Jack: Children, I’m sorry that you have to witness this, but I don’t think your father is fit to attend the funeral.
Ben: We’re not gonna let you put her in the ground!
Jack: Who do you think the police are gonna listen to? Me? Or some hippie in a clown outfit?
…
Rellian: Mom had psychotic episodes. She had hallucinations. Of smashing our heads in with rocks. I heard them talking about it.
Bo: Mom was sicker than any of us knew.
Rellian: Dad made her crazy. Dad’s dangerous. You think our lives are so great. You think dad is so perfect.
…
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 fucking book, I don’t know anything about anything!
…
Jack: You told me they were in school.
Ben: They are. Leslie and I are their teachers…were their teachers.
Jack: So you’re teaching them to steal.
Ben: Of course not.
Jack: “Mission: Free the food”?
Ben: That was part of their training.
Jack: So you’re “training” them to steal.
Ben: Their mother had just died. They were in shock. They were devastated. They needed a distraction. So we made it Noam Chomsky day.
Jack: “Noam Chomsky day.” I don’t even know who that is. That’s the day you gave my grandchildren real weapons.
…
Abby [reading a letter from Leslie to Ben]: "Dear mom, you don’t need to come get me anymore. Burn the other letter. What Ben and I have created here may be unique in all of human existence. We created a paradise out of Plato’s Republic. Our children shall be philosopher kings. It makes me so indescribably happy. I’m going to get better out here. I know I will. Because we are defined by our actions, not our words. "
…
Ben [to his children]: Okay, prisoner located. Second floor, second window, above the garage.
…
Ben [to his children]: It’s a beautiful mistake. But a mistake.
…
Nai: We want to complete the mission.
Ben: No. There is no mission.
Nai: Mission: Rescue dad and mommy. Mom wanted to be cremated. And we want to honor her wishes. And flush her down the toilet.
Ben: I can’t put any of you in danger ever again. I’m sorry.
Rellian: “If you assume that there is no hope, 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.
…
Kielyr: Dad, I found her.
Nai [reading the headstone inscription]: “Leslie Abigail Cash. May god bless her soul for all eternity.”
Zaja: Let’s dig. Otherwise she has to lie under that bullshit forever.[/b]