The Lost City of Z Review

Exploration.

Man's undying and uncompromising will to find the hidden, to seek the unknowable, to prove the impossible possible. This is what Colonel Fawcett did not set out to do, but it became his destiny.

The film follows Colonel Fawcett (Charlie Hunman), a British military officer who remains stagnant in the military, a man too old for his position, a man unable to grow in rank. His wife Nina (Sienna Miller), supports her husband in any way, while trying to further herself as a woman in an era that wouldn't allow it.

Fawcett travels into what they called Amazonia, to find the border, the end of a river. He goes there on a mission to settle a map issue regarding Bolivia and Brazil, who were on the verge of war for rubber. Find where to draw the line, and the mission would be over.

On the way there, Fawcett's guide tells them of a city with roads, buildings of gold, a civilization that was advanced beyond what the white man thought possible. As they reach the river's end, Fawcett finds pottery, leading him to believe his guide was right, there was a civilization here, a lost city. He called this idea of a city Zed. At the time, any natives in that area were simply regarded as savages. This discovery would also validate they were much more than savages, but an advanced race living in the wilderness.

Fawcett continues to come back again and again in his obsession to find this lost city in Amazonia, letting his children and wife grow up alone. His final trip even involves him taking his son up the river to find the lost city of Z.

I can say it's been awhile where I've seen a movie feel so authentic, one that doesn't pull the visage of a flat screen beyond the actors, digitized by computers. This movie, shot on location, brings you into the jungle, and when you leave it with Fawcett, it's as if the only danger he is in is the jungle in England, the jungle of the modern world.

James Gray, the writer and director, creates a sense of tension throughout, every journey into the jungle revealing more of which men are cowards, and which are heroes. The vistas, the lush nature, the allure of greatness, the obsession of it are derived in every frame of this masterwork.

The performances are all exceptional, most notably Charlie Hunman. Complex, interesting, here is a man who had it right, who wanted to do the right things, but at what cost? He left his family behind for years at a time, a ghost in his children's life, to find a city that may or may not have existed.

The film reminds me of the classic Treasure of the Sierra Madre, how one man's obsession can change who he is, and ultimately, who he becomes.

The Lost City of Z is a movie that doesn't come around very often, and one I wish to see more of in the cinematic future, a subtle epic, and exploration of the human spirit.