Has anyone seen this?


It looks interesting, but doesn't it seem weird that a father would take to the hills with his daughter? What kind of mixes up kid would this guy raise in reality? And how would any Hollywood writer know enough to write intelligently on the matter.

It sounds like a riff off "Captain Fantastic".

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I have. Daddy has issuezzz...

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The question of the father living alone in the wilderness with his teenage daughter does come up, but it never felt weird to me, the movie does a great job of showing their loving, genuine relationship that you can get past that and just enjoy the beauty (and melancholy) of the film. You should definitely check it out, it hit me a lot harder than I was expecting.

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Portraying this as the father being loving when he is setting his daughter up for a disastrous life when they are either found out, or he dies or gets too old to continue ... that is completely irresponsible and not parenting. Today's movies are like this a lot, complete fantasy. I like the movies of the past more, they did not have the gall to do stuff like this because pragmatic American audiences would have called BS and not paid to see them.

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On the contrary, I would argue this movie is less of a fantasy and more of a realism type of film, along the lines of Moonlight and The Florida Project. It's about a real problem in today's world and doesn't have a happy ending.

I think given the father's circumstances (mainly his PTSD), he did the best he could.

Have you seen it yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts after seeing it

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He's not setting up his daughter for a disastrous life though. That's just your projecting your biases on the theme. As I read your comment further it becomes quite clear of that as it seems you are threatened by it. As the social services woman stated, her development was further than others her age. She is far more competent. What we realize, and more of us are realizing it every year, is that WE have been set up for disastrous lives. Quite literally with the unsustainable way we are living we are marching straight off a cliff of mass destruction.

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> That's just your projecting your biases on the theme.

Not really my biases, that suggests I am being unreasonable and what I suggest you may disagree with but it is not unreasonable. I also really hate troll posters who make comments about my motives or personality like I am threatened. You are the one projecting there.

I do think that if we are set up for disastrous lives, and that is the point of the movie, then running off to live illegal is just making it worse - for everyone. I mostly agree with your perceptions of what is going on in the world. I would not phrase it the same as you, but I think you are also projecting your concerns onto the movie. By the way, I don't mean that in a "threatening" way, I think everyone sees a work of art, or attempted work of art, or just a regular experience through through the lens of their own mentality ... that is not a bad thing, and why so many boring posters with nothing to say like to trot that one out to no real purpose ... I always wonder why? Why?

Oh, and "we" are not marching anywhere. I am not marching with all those people and you I guess, and I have no interest in it. If you think that you might want to stop spending money on anything that sustains the beast and works to manipulate yourself.

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I feel the same way....I just finished it and it's very good.

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I did, and it’s really good (I haven’t seen “Captain Fantastic”). The issues you raise are not ignored by the film, which is evenhanded in never coming down unequivocally on one side or the other. How you interpret the answers to those questions will depend on your ideological positioning more than it will on how it is portrayed on screen.

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[spoiler alert] Leave no trace has two primary topics it explores. Firstly is the relationship between a father and his daughter. Their circumstances are testing for them. They must be hard working and understanding to survive, along with being disciplined and vigilant against being discovered by outsiders. For an experienced adult these circumstances are difficult, and naturally even more so for a child. It would therefore be understandable for a father to forgive their child should they make a mistake. It is a sympathy many parents show. Will does not, despite the situation. Their bond of trust is now broken, and Will takes on the entire burden himself. This is shown when he leaves to collect food alone whereas before Tom would join him. Understandably given the tasks he faces he cannot cope and he can no longer fill out his responsibilities. We are then led to believe he has come to terms with his failure and he must rekindle his relationship with his daugher, one which at the start of the film was a happy one. This is shown in a scene where the trust between Tom and the bees allows her to survive. Whilst this story arch of a character recovering from a fall would be fitting, it is used to build for a moving final scene. We see how Will discovers how trust and this bond with someone important in his life can help him survive, however his trauma is so significant that even then this takes priority, and suddenly the focus shifts to the second key topic - the impact a trauma can have on a person. The key message is how war can affect people.

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I would say the key point of the film is that there comes a time when we learn our parents lives are not ours, and we set out on our own.

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No it doesn't seem weird at all. Seems perfectly plausible. What's weird is how all of us slave away and play along with the lies we are told just because we perceive that we are rewarded in some way for it.

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Perfectly plausible, eh? LOL.

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Well it seems plausible but I would say only as an exception.

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