Captain fantastic :
Bo's Farewell & The Closing Montage
Bo's farewell closely mirrors the opening scene, yet this time the "becoming a man" ritual is more genuine and sincere. Ben and his son are closely knit in this scene as Ben gives his son some fatherly advice including " Live each day like it could be your last. Drink it in. be adventurous. Be bold. Savour it, it goes fast" and ending in "don't die". The cinematography is extremely warm toned and bright. The shots types include a few over the shoulder shots but mostly a close up with the two charters in the framing.
Considering the journey we've been through with Bo and experiencing how he has dealt with the death of his mother and seeing his lack of experience in the real world, this "becoming a man" ritual re-enacting the opening one highlights that Bo was in fact far from a man in the opening ritual, yet the long expedition that we've endured with him has changed that, resulting in a very pure and genuine moment towards the end of the film.
As the family wav goodbye, a sustained drone note begins which bleeds into the next scene.
An upbeat melodic non-diegetic tune of the violin and vocal accompaniment plays as the closing montage plays, once again mirroring an earlier scene. The two daughters can be heard laughing and giggling as they collect eggs from Steve- once a school bus used for road trips and adventures now turned into a stationary chicken coop, emphasising their new domestic life. Once again the cinematography is extremely warm toned and bright. There is a shot of the back of the girls' head skipping back to a little blue country cottage. We see the rest of the family members, busy with domestic chores or the little ones occupied by playing with string. There is lots of camera movement- it's handheld and follows the girls through to the kitchen and eventually the kitchen table. Instead of a watering schedule with the kids' names written up its school lunches, representing the family's transition back into traditional society. Each member comes to sit at the table as the non-diegetic melody continues. We see shots of fresh apples and some kind of lettuce- displaying the compromise of outdoor self-sustained life and domesticated living. Ben says "Eat your breakfast. School bus will be here in 15 minutes" retiring this. There are lots of vibrant blues, greens and red used within the scene; a very vivacious colour palette.
Each child is seen doing homework at the table. Their costumes are still quite bohemian yet once again, compromised with slightly more traditional and definitely not as extreme as before.
There is a close-up of Ben gazing adoringly at his children as the non-diegetic music fades out. There is a prologued moment of the shot of the whole family at the breakfast table with absolutely no non-diegetic sound. Ben is centre framed and finally he looks out the window, arguably yearningly and sighs and suddenly non-diegtic music kicks in again.
The shot of Ben looking out the window and sighing leaves room for speculation? Is he gazing outside wishing he was still living out there? or is it a pensive moment and a sigh of reflection? Active spectatorship leaves this up to the individual...
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