Captain Fantastic: Opening analysis

 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC: opening scene analysis

The film opens with very wide and open shots of a forest, showing how majestic nature is, putting into perspective how tiny we are compared to bigger things in our world. It also gives the sense that it is very separated from an urban society already creating the idea for the audience that our main protagonists might be isolated form society as we know it. 

The first couple scenes start in media res they are filmed in a way that puts the audience in a completely new environment, as we see a deer being hunted down by something which we don’t know yet what it is. This makes the audience put themselves in the perspective of the deer since we’re almost experiencing this in first person and we also don’t know what’s hunting us. When the family comes out we see they are covered in mud, this choice of costume is great since this still keeps in our head that danger is still there, if it had been a normal human, the audience could immediately relax knowing it’s just a human hunting for food, but the mud covered look gives the family a more disturbing and perverse look, keeping the tension created. The colours chosen are also great, the deep tone of the red that completely contrasts with the green of the forest makes it look almost out of place, just like how a human family living isolated from society seems out of place and odd. And the fact that the  killing was performed in such a brutal manner reinforces this idea for the audience that these people might still be dangerous. 

This feeling quickly vanishes when when we are shown how this family interacts with each other after the ritual has been completed, the way they celebrate and wash off the symbolic mud creates a sense of safeness for the audience. in conclusion the opening scene sets the mood for the rest of this movie, a family that is isolated from civilization and seems odd to the public at first glance, there’s also a lot of symbolism with turning from a boy into a man which we will continue to see more as the movie goes.