The Mosquito Coast

(1986) dir Peter Weir w/Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, River Phoenix, Jadrien Steele, Hilary Gordon, Rebecca Gordon, Andre Gregory, Martha Plimpton [117 min; DCP]

Peter Weir and Harrison Ford’s follow up to Witness is this thrilling adaptation of Paul Theroux’s novel. Ford stars as Allie Fox, a scientist who becomes completely disillusioned with the consumer culture of the United States, packs his family up, and ships off to the jungles of Central America. Thinking that he can build a pro-science, anti-capitalist utopia away from ‘civilization,’ Allie completely succumbs to hubris and the experiment is clearly doomed to failure from the beginning.

Discussion to follow with Professor Aviva Chomsky of Salem State University and others to be announced.