The Lost City of Z with Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Sienna Miller. Directed by James Gray. Adapted from the novel by David Grann.
4/5
IMAGINE a jungle so vast and dark no human eye has seen the end – a jungle that poses incredible risks, with murderous “savages”, diseases, and waters that boil with flesh-eating piranhas.
The time is 1906, and Major Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is appointed by the Royal Geographic Society to go on an expedition in the deep and unforgiving Amazon jungle to help map the borders between Brazil and Bolivia and help prevent unrest between the two countries, in light of the burgeoning rubber industry.
Fawcett hopes that a successful mission will help him excise the shame that clings to his family name. But after the first expedition it becomes clear that Fawcett develops an explorer’s obsession with Amazonia. He feels more alive picking leeches out of his armpit hair than he ever did in the drawing rooms of polite society.
The Lost City of Z is an adaptation of David Grann’s non-fiction book of the same name. Expanded from the author’s 2005 New Yorker article, the 2009 hardcover became a New York Times bestseller and garnered over half a dozen major awards and citations.
Part biography and part true-life detective story, The Lost City of Z recounts the life and exploits of early 20th century explorer Percy Fawcett, who became obsessed with a mythical city in the Amazon jungle that he simply called “Z”. Since many things about Z and Fawcett’s final mission remain shrouded in mystery, Grann’s novel looked at various scenarios and explored the available evidence.
In the film, Fawcett is accompanied by two other British army soldiers, Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson) and Arthur Manley (Edward Ashley). After his initial mapping expedition during which Fawcett comes across ancient pottery shards, and a failed second expedition, World War I breaks out, interrupting their jungle forays.
Fawcett is still convinced that the remains of a great mysterious and undiscovered city exist within the Amazon awaiting a well-funded and determined mission to uncover them, but his long absences from his family have had an impact on his relationship with his children.
He resigns himself to a peaceful life in the English countryside, until his eldest son, Jack (Tom Holland), persuades him to fulfil his dream and again head into the wilderness, this time accompanied only by Jack.
The movie is enjoyable, and plays on the imagination of every curious wannabe explorer, and although the plot develops slowly at first, one still feels that too much is squeezed in the film (understandably, as about 20 years have been condensed) and that some issues are left unresolved.
In terms of cinematography, The Lost City of Z is epic and ticks all the boxes and delivers a true feast for the eyes. The theme that the jungle reclaims everything that tries to enter is a very powerful idea that resonates well at the end.
