This is a bit of an indie-by-numbers, with an ending that is rather transparently bogus. But like most road movies, there are pleasures to be had along the way.
Viggo Mortensen plays the father of six children, who has taken to raising them in the wilderness, outside the structures of society. His child-raising methods are undoubtedly unconventional (all the kids have their own hunting knives, and read everything from "The Brothers Karamazov" to "Lolita"), but they seem tight enough. Until the death of their mother (who has been suffering from a mental illness and has committed suicide) sees them having to return into the wider world to go to her funeral. The roadtrip adventures form the bulk of the film, with the simmering question behind being "should the kids stay like this or not".
Unfortunately the ending kinda squiffs everything in sentimental fluffiness. While there are amusements along the way, the general smugness of insisting that these escapees from society are superior to the rest of the world starts to grate rather a lot, and the film never really faces up to the risks it implies that this living situation creates for the kids, in their physical safety as much as their mental health. It has a certain sentimental cuteness, but in the end there's not a lot more to this.
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