Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen in his 2016 Oscar-nominated performance) lives with his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) in the Washington wilderness where, disillusioned with contemporary capitalist society, they have raised their six children: Bodevan (George MacKay), Kieylr (Samantha Isler), Vespyr (Annalise Basso), Rellian (Australia's own Nicholas Hamilton), Zaja (Shree Crooks) and Nai (Charlie Shotwell). Ben particularly insists on raising and educating them on a diet of survivalism, philosophy, no technology and leftist politics, including observing Noam Chomsky's birthday as a holiday instead of Christmas. After the bipolar Leslie takes her own life, Ben calls her father Jack (Frank Langella), who threatens to have him arrested if they attend the funeral which defies Leslie's wishes for cremation anyway. Ben initially complies with this but then reneges, leading his brood on a bus road trip into life outside the wilderness. En route, the kids learn a lot about life amidst civilisation as we know it, and Ben is forced to re-evaluate just whether his approach to parenting has benefited them in the long term or not.
Writer-director Matt Ross has here hit upon a most unorthodox premise for a dramedy and infuses it with enough sincerity and wisdom so as to not make it feel like it's trying to be transgressive; instead the result is delightfully infectious and resonant. Ross is clearly familiar with the anarchic content invoked throughout here and shares Ben's enthusiasm for it, but not so much that he's oblivious to the hazards inherent in how it's often embraced. With this insight, he gradually succeeds in exploring the character arcs thoroughly but never becomes didactic. Also helping him here are Stephane Fontaine's evocative cinematography and Alex Somers' nicely New Age score (and the soundtrack also features a surprising and beautiful cover of a certain Guns N' Roses classic).
But undoubtedly the crown jewel here is Viggo Mortensen. In maybe his best performance ever (which I think should've won him the Oscar and yes, I've seen (and hated) Manchester by the Sea), Mortensen puts his very earthy, spiritual quality to impeccable use as he brings Ben from a devotedly nomadic and anarchic paterfamilias to one who comes to discover, from his distant relatives and more so from his kids, just why and how he and they need to move on. That said, Mortensen and Ross still don't let the story completely lose its rabble-rousing initial nature. (And as a devoted long-term The Lord of the Rings fan, Viggo will still always be King Aragorn to me.) Captain Fantastic is, well, fantastic.
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