The Mosquito Coast (1986)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The acting in this movie is really good.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Harrison Ford gives a superb performance as Allie Fox in "The Mosquito Coast." It earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best actor. Fox is a genius of an inventor, with many patents and pending patents. Though, as with many people of true genius intelligence, he is lacking in social skills. And, his emotions and psyche waiver from the range of common human relations. He is radical in his viewpoints. The difference between him and others like him, is that he does something about it by moving his family from America with its usual comforts -- besides its problems as he sees them, to the jungle of Central America. He sets out to create a utopia, but instead molds a dystopia. In the process, he becomes a tyrant and oppressor of his family. The contrast is obvious where Fox talks about freedom and the lack of it, and then lays down a heavy hand subjecting his family to hardship and frightening times. The movie is based on a novel by American-British author Paul Theroux. I don't know how closely the film follows the book. The film clearly depicts a genius and idealist who is extremely proud. He knows he is superior to everyone else. In time, he becomes egomaniacal even with his family. More than once in the film, Fox says that he is doing this for them - his family, his children. But he is delusional and is obsessed with achievement while disdaining any outside help. Others of the cast are very good. Helen Mirren plays Mother, wife of Fox. River Phoenix is the oldest son, Charlie, through whose eyes the story is told. Others in the supporting cast are very good as well. Most notable among them is Conrad Roberts as Mr. Haddy. The film production is very good in all of its technical aspects. And the acting is first-rate. But this is a difficult movie to sit through. It seems quite long and many viewers may find it boring. It's not a movie that people can enjoy, but is more like a sad tale. For those reasons, it can't score higher than seven stars.

While this movie starts with a promising storyline and a character that while not always likable (and quite self-absorbed for the entirety of the film), still has interesting thoughts on the American way of living and an incredible craftsmanship, it soon leaves you with disdain about this character and the interest that had been developed in the 1st hour of the movie soon turns into a drag, leaving you feeling frustrated about why these characters are being silent towards the father's reckless and almost-deadly treatment. The father turns from a man with a vision of building a civilisation from scratch into a man obsessed with not abiding to any form of current civilisation and living. He drags his family through dangerous situations for the sole purpose of making a living based on his narrow-minded view of how humans should live life. And while this could still make for an interesting storyline, the sole outcome of the terrain his family experiences is that with his sudden passing, they can now be free to live life the way they want to – a somehow unsatisfying final outcome when you consider the ordeal these people had to go through.

solitude of a man. his family as his victim. a character who reminds Lope de Aguirre or Brian Fitzgerald. in different tone. maybe, because the story is real and Harrison is far to be Klaus Kinski. a film about obsession, fear and madness.crumbs from flower power movement, extraordinary images, good performances and admirable illustration of man 's fragility, force and hope. a powerful film , beautiful for its profound thrill, one of interesting roles for Conrad Roberts and good occasion for remember the art of young River Phoenix. a film about duty. and its roots. a must see. for the landscapes and for images. for the story and for the acting. for the metamorphose of a man. for the struggle of his family. for the vain search of purity. for the links between father and sons.

A tale of an eccentric genius with an equally eccentric dream and his desire to escape a supposedly doomed America with his family to form a retro civilization in the tropics. It's difficult to like Harrison Ford (Allie)-especially in the last third of this movie when he starts really going off the deep end. But it is unique and really illustrates the mindset of an eccentric genius character well. If you are a middle-of-the-road (perhaps slightly Democratic) person with a 9-5 job-you know...the kind that the doomsayers claim has not "woke up" to what is going on, then you won't get it. You won't like it at all either. But art is not about being liked and often it is not even about passing judgment. Art is about illustrating the phenomenon of what it is to be human-without using crayons.