History Film / TheMosquitoCoast

* OpeningMonologue: "My father [[{{Foreshadowing}} ''was'']] an inventor...

--> '''Allie''': Made in Japan. I don't want my hard-earned American dollars converted into yen [...] Goodbye. Or maybe I should have said, "Sayonara!" (''tilting his head and leaning forward'')

* RiverOfInsanity
* SanitySlippage: Allie Fox goes from an arrogant inventor with good intentions [[spoiler:to risking his family's life by forcing them to live on the river with very little resources, refusing to listen to any sort of reason, and claiming that America is dead and gone. This self-destructive insanity ultimately leads to Allie getting killed by an evangelical preacher he'd been at odds with shoots Allie for setting his capitalistic home on fire.]]

* VillainProtagonist: Allie Fox

* DecoyProtagonist: Allie Fox seem's be another of his actor Harrison Ford's leads, [[spoiler:but when his character becomes more of an obstacle towards his family, his son Charlie is the true protagonist]].

''The Mosquito Coast'' is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the eponymous novel by Paul Theroux.

It stars Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/HelenMirren, and Creator/RiverPhoenix in a story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of UsefulNotes/{{Belize}}, Central America. However, their jungle paradise quickly turns into a dystopia as their stubborn father's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and aggressive.

* MightyWhitey: Deconstructed. Harrison Ford plays a brilliant but arrogant inventor who, disillusioned with the consumerism of American life and believing nuclear war is around the corner, and the fact that no one appreciates his "brilliance" in America, moves his family to a village in the rainforest of Belize and attempts to construct a utopian society there. SanitySlippage ensues.

It stars Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/HelenMirren, and Creator/RiverPhoenix in a story of a family that leaves the United States and tries to find a happier and simpler life in the jungles of Central America. However, their jungle paradise quickly turns into a dystopia as their stubborn father's behavior becomes increasingly erratic and aggressive.

The film was a commercial failure at the time, which many believed was due to audiences not being able to accept Ford, whose big claim to fame was playing lovable rogues such as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, in such an unlikable role (JackNicholson was reportedly the original choice for the role). Despite this, Ford still cites the film as one of his personal favorites from the work he's done.

* OpeningNarration: "My father [[{{Foreshadowing}} ''was'']] an inventor...

[[quoteright:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a0a30cbb262ed5eff0f3bbade3771384.jpg]]

''The Mosquito Coast'' is a 1986 American film directed by Creator/PeterWeir, based on the eponymous novel by Paul Theroux.

* {{Eagleland}}: Ouch.. Allie goes for The Boorish flavor.

* {{Eagleland}}: Ouch.. Allie goes for flavour 2.

''The Mosquito Coast'' is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the eponymous novel by Paul Theroux.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Pre-Seinfeld Creator/JasonAlexander as a hardware store clerk.

The film was a commercial failure at the time, which many believed was due to audiences not being able to accept Ford, whose big claim to fame was playing lovable rogues such as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, in such an unlikable role. Despite this, Ford still cites the film as one of his personal favorites from the work he's done.

* PapaWolf: Averted, subverted, deconstructed and pretty much anything in between. Despite all his talk of doing it for the greater good it seems pretty clear from early on that Allie Fox cares less about his family and more about his unrealistic and ultimately doomed utopia - so much so that he manipulates his family with lies about America being destroyed by a nuclear war so just so he can go on forcing them to live in his unhealthy and unrealistic do-it-yourself survivalist fantasy paradise.

* SanitySlippage: Allie Fox goes from an arrogant inventor with good intentions [[spoiler:to risking his family's life by forcing them to live on the river with very little resources, refusing to listen to any sort of reason, and claiming that America is dead and gone.]]

* HeyItsThatGuy: Pre-Seinfeld JasonAlexander as a hardware store clerk.

* OpeningNarration: "My father [[Foreshadowing ''was'']] an inventor...

* OpeningNarration: "My father ''[[Foreshadowing was]]'' an inventor...

* OpeningNarration: "My father ''was'' an inventor...

-->'''Allie''': Go on welfare. Get free money. [[{{Gangsterland}} Turn to crime. Crime pays in this country]]. Why do they put up with it? Why do they keep coming? Look around you, Charlie. This place is a toilet. [''continues inside the shop''] The whole damn country is turning into a [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement dope-taking]], [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica door-locking ulcerated danger zone]] of rabid scavengers, [[{{Gangsterland}} criminal millionaires]], and moral sneaks.

-->'''Allie''': Go on welfare. Get free money. [[{{Gangsterland}} Turn to crime. Crime pays in this country]]. Why do they put up with it? Why do they keep coming? Look around you, Charlie. This place is a toilet. [''continues inside the shop''] The whole damn country is turning into a [[GovernmentDrugEnforcement dope-taking]], [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica door-locking ulcerated danger zone]] of rabid scavengers [[{{Gangsterland}} criminal millionaires]] and moral sneaks.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Heroism might be taking it a bit far, but Allie Fox is far more mean-spirited in the book.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Allie dies and his family is on its own.]].

* MightyWhitey: Deconstructed. Harrison Ford plays a brilliant but arrogant inventor who, disillusioned with the consumerism of American life and believing nuclear war is around the corner, moves his family to a village in the rainforest of Belize and attempts to construct a utopian society there. SanitySlippage ensues.

''The Mosquito Coast'' is a 1986 American film directed by Peter Weir, based on the novel by Paul Theroux.

--> '''Allie''': Made in Japan. I don't want my hard-earned American dollars converted into yen [...] Goddbye. Or maybe I should have said, "Sayonara!" (''tilting his head and leaning forward'')