Film Review: The Mosquito Coast (1986)

Harrison Ford is great Hollywood star, but like with many stars, his stardom has put the limits on his acting career. The characters he played were almost always heroes or, in the worst case, charming rogues. Like many stars, Ford on rare occasions tried something different. One of such experiments is The Mosquito Coast, 1986 adventure drama directed by Peter Weir.

Film is based on the best-selling novel by Jim Theroux. Ford plays the protagonist, brilliant but eccentric inventor Allie Fox who lives in Massachusetts with his wife (played by Helen Mirren) and four children. The plot, partially narrated by his eldest son Charlie (played by River Phoenix), begins when Allie becomes disillusioned with American society, disgusted with its consumerism and convinced that it would soon perish in nuclear war. He has developed plan to escape the collapse by moving to the jungles of Central America where he would build giant version of his ice making machine and make it a foundation of new, better civilisation. After Foxes arrive to Mosquitia, Allie buys small settlement in the jungle and begins hard work of turning into thriving community. At first his enthusiasm and talent win over the locals and better their lives, but Allie becomes restless and his schemes descent into megalomania. When his plans begin to clash with reality and common sense, he reacts by becoming increasingly paranoid and authoritarian, leading to conflict, violence and tragedy.

This film failed at the box office and received mixed review by critics, which is somewhat surprising in light of so many respected names behind and in front of camera. Script was written by Paul Schrader, one of the most notable names of New Hollywood. Australian director Peter Weir has built a reputation on films with strange themes and exotic settings like this one. In Witness, his previous film Weir had very successful collaboration with Ford. As Allie Fox, Ford delivers very powerful performance but also plays what is arguably the most dislikeable character of his career. At the very beginning, Allie Fox is slightly eccentric inventor for whom the audience can root for, at least in the scene when he argues with smug missionary preacher (played by Andre Gregory), but soon he is revealed to be a dangerous madman who not only defies common sense, but turns into tyrannical abuser of his own family. The rest of the cast is easily overshadowed by his performance, which includes inexplicably passive Helen Mirren and River Phoenix who does solid job as narrator and character who starts by worshipping and ends hating his tyrannical father. Martha Plimpton is also good in relatively small role of preacher’s flirtatious daughter; her and Phoenix would soon afterwards become couple in real life.

Weir directs this film well and puts locations of Belize (where the crew, among other things, unearthed ancient pre-Colombian temple) to good use. However, this film suffers after inevitable comparisons with Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, film with similar theme, settings and protagonist. While that film represented work of passionate genius, The Mosquito Coast looks too much like Hollywood mainstream, and there are some issues with pacing in the second half. This is, especially near finale, very dark, disturbing and depressive film and that might explain why it sank into relative obscurity despite Ford naming him as the favourite title in his filmography. Despite its flaws, it could be recommended to Ford’s fans, as well as another cautionary tale of what happens with when utopian idealism clashes with reality. In 2021 Theroux’s novel was adapted again, this time as miniseries starring Jim Theroux’s nephew Justin Theroux.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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