The Lost City of Z

2017’s “The Lost City of Z”, written and directed by James Gray.

Starring Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Angus MacFadyen, Edward Ashley, Clive Francis, and Ian McDiarmid.

Based off of the novel, “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon” by David Grann, “LCoZ” is about the real life geographer/archaeologist/artillery officer Percy Fawcett (played by Charlie Hunnam). Fawcett was commissioned to explore and survey parts of South America for the National Geographic Society starting in 1906, and over multiple trips Fawcett came to believe that a great historic city lay undiscovered deep in the Amazon jungle. He called it Z, but it was believed to be the fabled city of El Dorado. Not content to be a world class explorer, Fawcett also served in WWI, and had 3 children (1 of whom is played by Tom Holland) with his wife (Sienna Miller). Fawcett’s life was such that Arthur Conan Doyle used some of Fawcett’s field reports for his novel, “The Lost World”.

Coming off of the excellent 2013’s “The Immigrant”, director James Gray brings more of the same vintage 70’s look to the picture, with characters appearing to be lit by chiaroscuro oil lamps when in interiors.  But don’t be mistaken by the retro formalism: Gray brings some of the most chaotic jungle footage ever filmed, making lovers of “Aguire: Wrath of God” or “Apocalypse Now” with plenty to swoon over. Casting Hunnam as Fawcett, a man who has plenty to prove from an absent father who sullied the family name, proves fruitful. Hunnam’s intensity comes across especially well as a man of intellect and confidence who never seems to panic, no matter how treacherous the river, how unfriendly the aboriginals, or hypocritically civilized when back home. Equally inspired is Fawcett’s leading man, played wonderfully low key by Robert Pattinson. Serving as a toilet brush to the feces smear that is the Twilight series, Pattinson’s work here (along with 2012’s Cosmopolis) shows he can do more than stare vacantly at mortal girls. Miller is also good as the wife who is far smarter than society thinks she is, but understands her family members’ calls to exploration and bloodless conquest.

Gray expertly navigates the decades of time depicted here condensed into 3 trips to the Amazon (with a detour into service in WWI), and he very much crafts something here that is a tribute to the spirit of adventure. Hunnam is shown as a man who has little options for himself as he goes about satisfying others, but by the end he would probably do the adventuring for free by himself if it meant he could be in the jungle, where the veneer of polite society is stripped away in favour of a more simplistic fatalism. The spirit to explore proves infectious, as Hunnam attracts followers throughout the movie, for better or worse.

“LCoZ” also features a scene that is a manual as to why I love cinema. Combining the poet Rudyard Kipling with a montage proves to be both beautiful and effective. As in past films, Gray brings subtle societal undercurrents to the fold, always in the background as the characters go about their daily motivations. True to life, Gray keeps the ending ambiguous but likely, as we observe Fawcett- he has finally found himself.

4.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.