The Mosquito Coast
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| The Mosquito Coast | |
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| Directed by | Peter Weir |
| Produced by | Jerome Hellman |
| Written by | Paul Theroux (novel) & Paul Schrader (screenplay) |
| Starring | Harrison Ford Helen Mirren River Phoenix |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | John Seale |
| Editing by | Thom Noble |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | 1986 |
| Running time | 117 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Mosquito Coast (ISBN 0-14-006089-8) is a 1982 novel by Paul Theroux and a 1986 film based on the book. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren star in the film directed by Peter Weir.
[edit] Plot
Maverick inventor Allie Fox finds little support for his inventions in the United States. Because of this, he moves to the Mosquito Coast in Honduras, dragging his wife and four children with him.
Under Allie's authoritarian leadership the family and employees build with hard work a settlement in the jungle. It includes an ice factory, providing useful cooling for the settlement and the region. One day three armed men demand to stay at the settlement. The threat and loss of freedom is countered by making a bedroom for the men in the ice factory, locking it and cooling the room to freeze them to death. However, they start shooting from inside, causing a fire which not only kills them, but also destroys the whole settlement and pollutes the river.
Although the other family members want to return to the U.S., Allie insists in starting again at a new location. He lies saying the U.S. has been destroyed in a nuclear war, which some of the children believe.
On occasion, family members plan to sneak away to leave, or even consider killing Allie.
As a local black man had warned, the water level gets high, and the new settlement is also destroyed.
On the move again, they arrive at a mission church. Allie sets a plane there on fire, after which the missionary shoots him. On the way home, travelling downstream by boat, he is paralyzed, while the family lies telling him that they are going upstream, as he wants. They are in reality going downstream towards the ocean.
This novel is written from the viewpoint of the eldest son, Charlie, played in the film by River Phoenix.
Tagline: Allie Fox followed his dream to the Mosquito Coast. He planned a paradise. He created a Hell.
[edit] External link
| Films Directed by Peter Weir |
| Homesdale | The Cars That Ate Paris | Picnic at Hanging Rock | The Last Wave | Gallipoli | The Year of Living Dangerously | Witness | The Mosquito Coast | Dead Poets Society | Green Card | Fearless | The Truman Show | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | War Magician | Pattern Recognition |
