Captain Fantastic
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
‘Captain Fantastic” is noteworthy for its refreshing views of an authoritarian patriarch, Ben Cash (a terrific performance by Viggo Mortensen), gussied up as a forward-thinking intellectual. Dad’s political motto is “Stick It to the Man,” and he celebrates Noam Chomsky’s birthday instead of Christmas. His children are conversant in Marx, “Middlemarch” and Yo-Yo Ma, but are unable to cope with the real world. Cash, a professor on sabbatical, takes his kids deep into the forests of the Pacific Northwest to make it as survivalists. The kids have no social skills and are a source of amusement to the youngsters they encounter. It’s obvious they would be better off with their grandfather (the always excellent Frank Langella) a no-nonsense, church-going, super-wealthy pillar of the community. The film regrettably closes on a sentimental note, but it nonetheless offers an original and compelling portrait of a classic narcissist who is as uncompromising in his “radical” views as he is devoid of common sense and empathy.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
