Somewhere in a forest in Oregon lives a dad with his six kids. He trains them to survive on their own in nature, killing wild animals, climbing steep rocks and reading very difficult books (sic). Their mom isn’t there, because she’s in the hospital, out there in the ‘real world’.
Then the moment comes when the family learns that their mom has died and will get a typical christian funeral and burial, which is contrary to her buddhist believes. So the whole family goes on a road trip to stop this from happening!
Yes. There are a lot of things in the story that don’t make sense. But it’s a fictional story, so you just need to soak it up and enjoy it like some weird fairytale without a morale. It’s a quirky, strange, bizarre, but lovely tale about a family trying to hold onto something that they know will disappear one day.
Some of the father’s principles are really praiseworthy. But some are just hypocrite. Luckily, the performance of Viggo Mortensen makes you like the character, even at his most unreasonable moments. The road trip makes you want to book a trip to the US yourself. There’s drama, but also humor. A perfect balance.
Too bad the movie takes a different direction just when it becomes really interesting. They finally make it to the real world, but that confrontation is not played out enough. Kind of disappointing if that’s what you’re expecting after having seen the trailer.
Still. Good movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3553976
