History Film / CaptainFantastic

* TragicHero: Ben. Highly intelligent, charismatic and extremely physically fit, he's raising his kids to be "philosopher kings" with all his attributes. However, his FatalFlaw is his distrust of the standard urban society he left behind and his intolerance of that lifestyle. While the film shows there's much truth to his beliefs, it also leads to Leslie dying from suicide when her bipolar disorder didn't get better living in the wild as he thought, leaving it too late to get her proper treatment. Later, it [[spoiler:leads to his nearly losing his kids when his total inflexibility leads to first clashing with Rellian and Bo as they want to explore the outside world, then nearly getting Vespyr killed in a supremely-ill judged attempt to "save" Rellian from his grandparents]].

* DoubleEntendre: Bo accidentally drops a classic one one of these during his ill-fated proposal to Claire;

--> '''Bo:''' The way she has opened me up, she has penetrated deep, deep inside of me, and I know that I have penetrated deep, deep inside of your daughter. And...[realises what he's just said, starts stuttering] but not - not like that.

* DotingGrandparent: While Jack feuds with Ben on various points he does his best to make sure the conflict doesn't affect his grandkids; he's still happy to see them after the funeral, and treats them very well during their stay, even trying their workout routine with them. His wife Abigail is an even straighter example, with none of Jack's antagonism towards Ben. He also promises to take care of Bo's college tuition.

* ParentsAsPeople: Ben clearly loves his kids, has raised them to be very intelligent and capable and honestly thinks he's doing what is best for them but he struggles to accept that they want to live their own lives now and that may not include continuing to do things as he does and he also struggles to accept that, for all the benefits of how he raised them, there were also negative side effects such as an impaired ability to form relationships with people outside their circle.

* DotingGrandparent: While Jack feuds with Ben on various points he does his best to make sure the conflict doesn't affect his grandkids; he's still happy to see them after the funeral, and treats them very well during their stay, even trying their workout routine with them. His wife Abigail is an even straighter example, with none of Jack's antagonism towards Ben.

-->'''Ben:''' Then maybe one of you should have shot the fucking sheep!

--> '''Nai:''' Let's dig. Otherwise she has to lie under that bullshit forever.

* EveryoneHasStandards: She seems to be OK hunting and later butchering wild animals , but Kielyr's completely freaked out when she stalks and prepares to shoot a sheep, which, being domesticated, have no instinct to flee or fight back around humans. Ben is competely bewildered by this as his daughter retreats in disgust.

* PrecisionFStrike:When an upset Nai complains he's hungry after Ben has had a multilingual argument with the equally stressed twins, he gets this response;

* ToughLove: While not taken to extremes (most other scenes show him being somewhat softer), the climbing scene shows Ben's policy of self-reliance can be this. When Rellian falls none of his family make a move to help, with Ben lecturing him that no-one will magically save him and that he has to help himself - which he does, with an injured hand.

* ToughLove: While not taken to extremes (most other secnes show him being somewhat softer), the climbing scene shows Ben's policy of self-reliance can be this. When Rellian falls none of his family make a move to help, with Ben lecturing him that no-one will magically save him and that he has to help himself - which he does, with an injured hand.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Ben. He fakes a heart attack to steal food. He offers a book named "The Joy of Sex" to Nai, a very young boy. Since he's not interested, he offers him Rellian's large Bowie knife to play with. Later, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, he's shown not only reading ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' to Nai at his sister's house, but explaining to him what [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the showers]] actually did.

* PrecisionFStrike: A spectacular one, from 6-year-old Nai of all people, as he sees [[spoiler:his mother's Christian headstone]].

* BadassBeard: Ben sports an impressive beard, and he's an athletic, intellectual survivor. His [[spoiler:shaving it off after leaving the kids with Jack and Abigail]] is indicative of the CharacterDevelopment he experiences after the events described in the BreakTheHaughty entry.

* TrainingMontage: Including physical exercising, landfarming and art expression, the family members are timing their days with various activities.

* UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest: The first part of the film is set in the Cash family's home in the Washington forest, with the scenery shooting taking place both in Washington and Oregon.

-->'''Ben:''' Leslie and I are their teachers. [[FreudianSlip Are -- were their teachers]].
-->'''Jack:''' So you're teaching them to steal?
-->'''Ben:''' Of course not.
-->'''Jack:''' "Mission: free the food"?
-->'''Ben:''' ...that was part of their training.
-->'''Jack:''' [[DistinctionWithoutADifference So you're training them to steal?]]

* RunningGag: Nai asking his father "What's-?" after hearing a new (and often fairly mature) word or phrase.

* AbusiveParents: Some of Ben's decisions may be seen this way. [[spoiler:Jack even threatens to sue him for it]].

** Keilyr can only chuckle at Ben's (jokingly) telling her to kill her sister in response to her objecting to his praising Vespyr for accidentally stabbing her in a training session.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: It's subtle, but Ben's clearly had a good bit of red wine to drink when Bo confronts him - the bottle he has is visibly empty by the time Bo arrives - which might explain his unusually harsh and mocking response to [[spoiler:Bo revealing he's been accepted by every major college, with his mother's help, no less]].

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Zigzagged. It's made clear that while Ben's relationships with his in-laws are tempestuous, it's largely due to both sides lacking a middle ground to truly understand each other's way of life.
** While Ben and Jack hardly get on, to the point of threatening to call the cops, many of Jack's issues are shown to have at least some validity to them. It's unspoken but made clear that Jack is trying to remember a daughter he long since ceased to know as she was - something Ben serves as a constant reminder of. Their last conversation is at least fairly respectful, with Jack implicitly acknowledging Ben's love for Leslie when he sees him gazing wistfully at old photos of her.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Rellian puts one of these to Bo in the aftermath of the disastrous funeral; when Bo scoffs at his suggestion that their father is dangerous and made their mother sick, an emotional Rellian asks him if he really thinks their lives are so great, or that Ben is so perfect. He storms off, but it drives a visibly contemplative Bo to confron his father, culminating in the entry directly below.

* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: It's subtle, but Ben's clearly had a good bit of red wine to drink when Bo confronts him -the bottle he has is visibly empty by the time Bo arrives - which might explain his unusually harsh and mocking response to [[spoiler:Bo revealing he's been accepted by every major college, with his mother's help, no less]].

** Leslie's favorite song was ''[[Music/GunsNRoses Sweet Child o' Mine]]''. The family, led by Kielyr as lead, sing this as a tribute to her at [[spoiler:her cremation]].

* LudicrousPrecision: When Ben claims that the mother hasn't been gone very long, Keilyr replies that it has been "three months, two weeks, six days, and 11 hours."

* BadassBeard: Ben sports an impressive beard, and he's an athletic, intellectual survivor. His [[spoiler:shaving it off after leaving the kids with Jack and Abigail]] is indicative of the CharacterGrowth he experiences after the events described in the BreakTheHaughty entry.

* BadassBeard: Ben sports an impressive beard, and he's an athletic, intellectual survivor.

** In the bus, Kielyr has to discourse about ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' when Ben sees her reading it.

* MundaneObjectAmazement: The kids are amazed (and, aside from Rellian, appalled) by their cousin's videogames.

* MundaneObjectAmazement: The kids are amazed (and, aside from Rellian, appalled) by their cousin's videogames,