Mosquito Coast

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Mosquito Coast
Original title The Mosquito Coast
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1986
length 117 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Peter Weir
script Paul Theroux
Paul Schrader
production Jerome Hellman
music Maurice Jarre
camera John Seale
cut Thom Noble
occupation

Mosquito Coast is an American feature film from 1986. It is based on the novel of the same name by the writer Paul Theroux .

action

The lonely and eccentric inventor Allie Fox sells his belongings as he rejects modern consumer society - especially in the US - and is rejected with his inventions at home. Even the invention of the prototype of a refrigeration machine that turns heat into ice does not receive any recognition. He happily leaves the USA with his family, first by car, then by cargo ship to Honduras - one of the poorest countries in Central America. On the crossing, the family met a missionary and his family. The captain's warning that the country recently "fell back into the Stone Age" is encouraging to Fox. After their arrival in a port city, he buys a “city” in the rainforest from a German. Fox drives enthusiastically together with the captain “Mr. Haddy ”, his wife and four children on a small boat in the rainforest in the northeast of the country (“ Mosquitia ”). The “city” turns out to be a run-down, overgrown village. Regardless of this, the enthusiastic Fox immediately starts building a fish farm, a house and other infrastructure.

After all, the inventor designed a large refrigeration machine to delight the residents with what, in his opinion, is the pinnacle of science: ice cream. Sales are growing rapidly, but Fox does not ask the residents for any money. Soon afterwards he was fascinated by the idea of ​​presenting his ice cream to a supposedly untouched Indian tribe. With the support of his children and other helpers, he has a large, well-packed chunk of ice carried through the impassable jungle. When they arrive at the Indians and want to present Fox with his gift, the ice has completely melted. One of the children discovers a white man in the Indian village. They seem to be prisoners of the Indians. Fox tells them about his settlement. He announces to the Indians to come back and bring ice cream.

Upon their return, Fox learns that in his absence the missionary has visited the village and caused a stir. A short time later, three guerrilla fighters armed with Russian assault rifles are in the village. Their arrival panics everyone, the peaceful life seems to be over. Fox decides to tear down as much of the village as possible to make it unattractive to the troublemakers. The guerrillas, however, are used to poor conditions and settle in the family home. Fox realizes he's not going to get rid of her with words. He then sets up a place to sleep in the refrigerator for the guerrillas who go to sleep there. At night he and his eldest son barricade the sleeping area and start the refrigeration machine to gas the guerrillas, who are woken up by the loud noises of the machine and then try to shoot themselves free with their Kalashnikovs. This causes the chemicals to ignite and the machine to explode, killing the guerrillas. The fire ultimately spreads across the village and destroys all of Fox's work. In addition, the chemicals from the machine contaminate the river and destroy Mr. Haddy's boat.

With a heavy heart, the family moves on towards the coast. They find floating debris on a sandbank. Fox is thrilled and, contrary to his family's expectations, wants to linger on the spot. He starts again with the construction of a sleeping place, although this time he wants to do without chemicals and other aids. Mr. Haddy warns the family of the life-threatening tropical storms to which they are directly exposed in their coastal location. Fox ignored this warning, however, on the grounds that he would not be told "from a savage". To save the family, Mr. Haddy gives Fox's eldest son Charlie secretly at night fuel and spark plugs for the previously non-working boat engine. In the following tropical storm, the sandbank is completely devastated and flooded. Only with great effort and the help of the boat engine can the family escape from the storm and survive. Fox's wife and children want to travel along the coast to Mr. Haddy's or preferably back to the USA, but the inventor wants to go back to the jungle. He tells the children that a nuclear war destroyed the United States. When he wants to repair the damaged propeller of the raft underwater and does not appear for a long time, the family decides to turn back. When Fox finally shows up again and realizes this, the two sons are banished to a dinghy as a punishment. There they toy with the idea of ​​murdering their father.

By chance the family arrives at a mission station on the river where they anchor. The family watches as Fox believes that residents of a church are "brainwashed" by the missionary on television. The two sons secretly contact the missionary's daughter at night and ask her for help. In fact, she gives them the keys to her father's pickup truck. When the boys come back to their sleeping place, their father has disappeared. They try to convince the mother to leave with the pickup, but she is reluctant to let her husband down. Suddenly flames shoot out of the church tower and Fox comes running from the direction of the church with a petrol can, with the remark that something has "accidentally" spilled. This behavior made the mother rethink, much to Fox's displeasure. Meanwhile, the residents and the missionary are startled by the fire. The missionary hears the family arguing a short distance away and shoots Fox with a rifle. Instead of staying on site, the family flees with the raft and the injured father. While driving out of the jungle on the river, Fox ultimately succumbs to his injuries.

criticism

“Wordy and top-heavy political fairy tale film that ends up being tragic-comic. The honest message, after all, is only conveyed through the dialogues; its poor implementation in images makes the film lengthy. "

Awards

The film was nominated for the Golden Globe in the categories of best film music and best actor in a drama and for the Young Artist Award in the categories of best young male leading actor and best young female lead actress and won in the category of best young male leading actor by River Phoenix in the role of Charlie Fox .

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

Trivia

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mosquito Coast. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 29, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used