The Mosquito Coast

Peter Weir, 1986 (8.2*)
Harrison Ford is an American inventor who has finally had it with civilization and all its debris. Against the wish of wife Helen Mirren, he decides to move his entire family to the jungles of Belize in Central America, and establish a family farm commune there that he hopes will become self-sustaining. His lifetime dream is to bring ice cream to primitives in the jungle.

There he finds a new chance but once again religion in the form of a fundamentalist missionary with his own brand of God's wrath crosses his path and becomes a metaphor for facing spiritual issues head on. This is another of master director Peter Weir's good films; nearly all of his are worth viewing and this is no exception, as it concerns man's basic instinct for survival vs. personal ideals.

Look for Butterfly McQueen from Gone With the Wind and her squeaky voice as a follower of the primitive missionary in a religious commune, in one of her last roles. The late River Phoenix plays one of Ford's kids.

Quote: Are we still going upriver?
Quote 2: Man's biggest mistake - walking upright and exposing all his vital organs.