The Mosquito Coast (1986)

They literally do not make movies like this anymore.

The Eighties was a decade whose artistic values and contributions are, in this age, unattainable. In some ways (fashion and hairstyles, mostly) this is a good thing. In most ways, however, it's unfortunate. We live in a digital age, and looking back on films from the Eighties you can see how they are distinctly analog. There's a grittiness and a realism to them that doesn't exist in today's era of CGI special effects and editing techniques.

Mosquito Coast is a Harrison Ford film that is rarely mentioned nowadays, due to the fact that Ford has been making blockbuster movies for 30 years and some of his smaller works get lost in the panoply of Star Wars, Indiana Joneses, Fugitives and Air Force Ones.

The story is based around Ford's character, an obsessive genius who lives as an inventor. He rages against 80's American culture, decrying its absence of character and values. He gives passionat speeches to his son, River Phoenix, about the banality of its consumer culture, fast food restaurants, its soulless music and the laziness of its populace. He also predicts America's imminent doom by atomic warfare, which is always a good thing to tell your kids.

When his employer refuses to acknowledge the genius of his newest machine, a Doc Brown-ish device that makes ice from fire, he gives up and dislodges his entire family to go live in the fictional country of La Mosquetera, deep amongst the jungles of South Africa where they will build their own civilization and live by their own means. A lot of it involves convincing the locals, a strange ethnic mix of blacks, hispanics and native indians, to obey his whims.

Ford's motivations are very Objectivist, but the fact that he's a lunatic keep it from being a Rand-fest. What follows is a mix of Swiss Family Robinson and Heart of Darkness. This movie blew my mind, and the zeal of Ford's character is amazing to watch. I can't remember another movie where he has put this much effort into a character.