The experience of watching an independent movie in Wilmington’s grand Thalian Hall will make any movie fan pleased. The hall itself comes with a history dating all the way back to 1858, with a design inside the auditorium that can take someone’s breath away. Thalian Hall allows the audience to experience a film the same way one would a Broadway play. With high ceilings and proscenium arches, the architecture alone will give anyone a feeling of old time theater.  It was here that the new independent film “Captain Fantastic” was screened on August 24th, 2016. 

The film follows the Cash family, who live mostly by the earth in a forest just outside of the nearest civilized mountain area. Upon finding out that the mother has committed suicide due to her untreated bipolar disorder, the family begins their trek back to normal society, in order to say a proper goodbye to their mother.

They soon learn that everything is different, and that perhaps living their lives in the wilderness wasn’t as ‘healthy’ as they thought. When they encounter more practical members of their estranged family, the issues of child endangerment, and the father’s ability to give a good life to his socially awkward but well educated children, come into question.

“Captain Fantastic” starts with a very unusual scene, where we watch an 18-year-old man covered in black body paint move to kill a large deer in the forest. As soon as the deed is done, one by one, a family, all covered in black body paint, begin to encircle him. The father emerges as well and bestows upon the kill a tribal saying, declaring that this killing has made him into a man. From then on it gets weirder, but much more human.

As viewers we slowly realize that these people are humans, living off the land, and are separated from what they consider an unnecessary way of life in the suburbs. These kids are very intelligent, and have been taught more in the woods by their father than any public school could’ve done. In one scene, the eight-year-old daughter is asked what the Bill of Rights is, and she begins to describe it by reciting it word for word.

The film follows this family into what we consider the real world, and watches as they try and understand it. One interesting character is the father, played by Viggo Mortenson, who knows of both sides and has chosen the outdoors for both him and his children. His journey is not coming into the world for the first time, but rather trying to come back to it having lived off the land, and outside of society, for so long.

The father is unwilling to accept that his children, and himself, need a life of normality according to our world. He believes that he is doing the right thing with raising his kids in the forest, despite the children’s lack of social skills and safety.

Mortenson does an excellent job of capturing both the love for his character’s children and the complexities of giving them up to a world where everything is not under his control. “Captain Fantastic” is not your average family movie night flick. The film is, however, a way to see just how important family is.

This film captures the title in the way of being fantastic, while also being a deeply personal message to fathers and children everywhere. “Captain Fantastic” is a strange film, with a mixture of heart, humor, and warm triumph. Despite its indie feel and unusual story, it can still touch upon the universal themes of loss, love and family, which make us all human.