Captain Fantastic (film)

Ben Cash, his wife Leslie and their six children live in the Washington wilderness. Ben and Leslie are former left-wing anarchist activists disillusioned with capitalism and American life, who chose to instill survivalist skills, left-wing politics, and philosophy in their children—educating them to think critically, training them to be self-reliant, physically fit & athletic, guiding them without technology; demonstrating the beauty of coexisting with nature and celebrating Noam Chomsky's birthday instead of Christmas.

Leslie is hospitalized for bipolar disorder and eventually commits suicide. Ben learns that Leslie's father, Jack, plans to hold a traditional funeral and burial, even though Leslie wished to be cremated. They argue over the phone and Jack threatens to have Ben arrested if he attends the funeral. He initially decides not to go and prevents his children from doing so, but then changes his mind, leading his children on a road trip into life outside the wilderness.

The family briefly stays at the house of Ben’s sister Harper. She and her husband try to convince Ben that his children should attend school to receive a conventional education; in response, Ben quizzes Harper's children and his own children on a variety of topics, illustrating that his children are better educated and embarrassing Harper and her husband. Ben arrives at Leslie's funeral with his children and reads her will, which instructs her family to cremate her and flush her ashes down a toilet. In response, Jack has Ben forcibly removed.

During the trip Ben's children start to doubt their father and his parenting skills. His son Rellian accuses Ben of failing to treat Leslie's mental health. His son Bodevan accuses his father of failing to equip them for the real world and shows him college acceptance letters from Ivy League schools, which Leslie had helped him apply to before she died. Rellian tells Ben that he wants to live with his grandparents, who want to take custody of all the children. When Ben's daughter Vespyr tries to climb into a window to "free" Rellian from his grandparents, she falls from the roof and narrowly avoids breaking her neck. Ben, shocked and guilty, allows Jack to take his children. Although they have bonded with their grandparents, the children decide to secretly follow Ben again when he departs.

The children honor Leslie's wish and convince Ben to help them. They exhume her corpse, burn it in a self-made pyre and flush her ashes down an airport toilet. Bodevan then leaves the family to travel through Namibia, while the rest settle into the "real world" life on a farm. The final scene shows the family eating breakfast around the kitchen table with their father, waiting for the school bus to arrive.

The idea of the movie started for Matt Ross as he began questioning the choices he and his wife were making as parents. From there he wondered what would happen if he were "completely present" in his children's lives, while noting that modern technology had made that difficult.[11] In making the film Ross also took autobiographical bits from his own life, notably being raised in what he terms as "alternative-living communities" growing up.[11]

Viggo Mortensen was cast in February 2014.[12] That June, it was announced that George MacKay, Annalise Basso, Samantha Isler, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks and newcomer Charlie Shotwell had also been cast.[13] Much of the rest of the cast joined that July and August.[14][15]

Principal photography on the film commenced in July 2014, in Western Washington,[16][17] with additional photography in Portland, Oregon.[18]

In July 2014, eOne Entertainment acquired international distribution rights to the film.[19] In August 2014, it was announced that Bleecker Street would distribute the film in the United States.[20] The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2016.[4][21] The film was released on July 8, 2016.[7] The film was aired in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, with Matt Ross winning the Best Director prize.[22]

• Official website
• Captain Fantastic at IMDb 
• Captain Fantastic at AllMovie
• Captain Fantastic at Box Office Mojo