Captain Fantastic On Max Gives Lord Of The Rings Star Another Iconic Role

As a homeschooling mom of two, it took me a surprisingly long time to watch Captain Fantastic, perhaps because it never really hit my radar. But once I watched it, I was riveted.

The homeschooling I, and most people I know, practice, is nowhere near the level of focused intensity you’ll see in this film. But I do really appreciate the way the film and its actors manage to portray two different sides of this issue with compassion.

Captain Fantastic is a film about a couple who were once radical left-wing anarchists who have become disillusioned with capitalism and the extreme materialism of life in the United States of America. Viggo Mortensen plays Ben Cash, and Trin Miller plays his bipolar wife, Leslie.

The film opens on Ben teaching and training his six children out in the Washington wilderness. The kids, ranging from teenagers to young children, exercise, read college level textbooks, and learn survival skills. Their mother, we soon learn, is in an institution for her disorder. 

When Leslie dies, the family is thrown into disarray, and Captain Fantastic (Ben) must find a way to bring his children into the real world. It turns out that Leslie’s family is composed of mainstream Christians who have been against Leslie and Ben’s lifestyle and the way they raise their children. In one scene, Ben and the kids stay with Leslie’s sister, Harper (Kathryn Hahn), and her husband, Dave (Steve Zahn).

Harper is concerned about the children’s welfare, and Ben promptly quizzes both his own children and Harper’s on the spot. Ben’s kids show themselves to be much more intellectual than Harper’s, and both Harper and Dave are embarrassed. 

Still, Captain Fantastic is all not about the glories of homeschooling. There are some real dark moments when the children realize they are socially awkward and don’t have a lot of marketable skills if they were to go out into the world.

They also reveal in flashbacks that their mother was questioning her and Ben’s commitment to extremism. One of the kids shows Ben his acceptance letters to several Ivy League schools, to which Leslie had him apply. 

In the end, Captain Fantastic is largely a revelation, thanks to the mind of its writer and director, Matt Ross, who himself found himself questioning his educational and parenting choices as his children started to reach school age. It’s not an easy decision, as the film shows, and there are pros and cons to every choice parents make for their kids.

Mortensen does an excellent job of playing a devoted radical who is persistently against “the system,” almost an exact reversal of his role in G.I. Jane. At the same time, he manages to bring out hidden depths of emotion in his character as a father who struggles to not just do what he thinks is right for his kids, but to actually respond to their needs. 

GFR SCORE

Rotten Tomatoes has Captain Fantastic at a solid 83 percent approval rating from critics and 85 percent approval rating from audiences, which I think says a lot for a movie that doesn’t give us a clear answer. It’s not preachy. It doesn’t tell you how you should be raising your kids. It just makes you think, and think really hard, about the world we live in, and how we influence the way our children will encounter it. Stream it on Max to see for yourself.