Captain Fantastic was an American comedy-drama film written and directed by Matt Ross in

2016. The story centered on a family that is forced by circumstances to reintegrate into society
after living in isolation for a decade.
Much of the movie is set in the Northwest, with Artist Point one of several Western Washington
locations to make an appearance. Also, we saw the state of New Mexico when the family went to
the mother´s funeral.
Matt Ross began questioning the choices he and his wife were making as parents. He wondered
what would happen if he were "completely present" in his children's lives, while noting that modern
technology had made that difficult. In making the film Ross also took autobiographical bits from his
own life.

“Captain Fantastic” was the story of Ben Cash an authoritarian man with soft-spoken and good-
humored, who was raising his six children (ranging in age from about six to eighteen) in an
isolated place somewhere in the deep woods of the Pacific Northwest. He taught them to catch
and slaughter some pretty big animals for meat; he gave them rough training in hand-to-hand
combat.
Ben homeschools them with classic literature of the arts and sciences and stringently taught them
both to memorize and to think critically. He also educated them to reject the functioning of modern
society. He rejected organized religion, consumerism, moralism, pop culture, supermarket food,
diner food, and the compromises of big politics. Ben was extremely frank with his children about
sex in particular and pleasure over all.
Ben believed in the gospel of Noam Chomsky—instead of Christmas, the family’s big holiday is
Noam Chomsky Day at which time he gave his children gifts (hunting knives and crossbows) while
they intoned his homemade song of praise to “Uncle Noam.”

Algunas de las experiencias de la familia Cash tienen su origen en la propia educación de

Ross. "A mi madre le interesaban los estilos de vida alternativos", recuerda. "De niño, no se
llamaba vivir ‘desconectado del sistema’, pero sí que vivimos en comunas en el norte de
California y en Oregón. Vivíamos en medio de la nada, sin televisión ni apenas tecnología
moderna".

Al igual que la familia de CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, la infancia de Ross fue en cierto aspecto una
gran aventura y, en otros, una experiencia desconcertante para un niño. "Se hizo especialmente
dura durante la adolescencia", señala. "Estaba apartado de otros chicos de mi edad cuando
empecé a sentirme atraído por miembros del sexo opuesto. Mis amigos estaban muy lejos.
Quería tener ese elemento social en mi vida. El hijo mayor de los Cash, Bo, se encuentra en ese
momento durante la película, mientras que los niños más pequeños aún encuentran esa vida
estimulante".