James Gray is a filmmaker who has consistently shown an ability to capture human frailty, regardless of the genre that he is working in. Although he made a science fiction epic with Ad Astra, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story with Armageddon Time, and a haunting mafia thriller with We Own The Night, Gray has managed to examine complex, relatable characters with every film that he has directed.
The prospect of Gray making an adventure film was somewhat surprising, as he is not exactly a filmmaker that seemed well-suited to making a swashbuckling crowd-pleaser like Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Princess Bride. However, The Lost City of Z is a harrowing epic about a real discovery mission that went awry and deserves to be heralded as one of the best films of the 21st century.
What Is ‘The Lost City of Z’ About?
Set at the very beginning of the 20th century, <em>The Lost City of Z </em>explores a real search for a mythic lost city in the Amazon, which was rumored to contain deep knowledge and hidden riches. The British Army major Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) was initially tasked with surveying the Amazon to examine the ongoing rubber trade but becomes informed about the legend of the mysterious city after he ventures deep into the jungle with Corporal Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson), who quickly becomes one of his closest friends. Fawcett continuously lobbies the British government to grant him additional resources to explore the area, as many of his planned expeditions are thwarted by a lack of funding and improper planning. Despite being told that his obsession had become dangerous to his health, Fawcett continues his search and even brings his young son Percy (Tom Holland) along with him.
The Lost City of Z is modeled after the classic adventure films popular within the Golden Age of Hollywood, as it is odd to see a film with the ambitions of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or The African Queen that is made today. Although the sweeping cinematography and massive sets feel reminiscent of an older generation of storytelling, Gray adds enough nuance to the details that The Lost City of Z never feels antiquated; there is a lot of graphic violence that shows how dangerous the expedition really was and makeup that indicates how much the characters have changed over time. What’s more impressive about The Lost City of Z is how it bucks conventions in terms of its structure; despite being met with failure at every turn, Fawcett continues to believe in himself, even when his wife Nina (Sienna Miller) comes to doubt his sanity.
‘The Lost City of Z’ Explores the Horror of Obsession
The Lost City of Z is a brilliant character study that shows how dangerous it can be to center one’s life around a singular mission that may be impossible. Since Fawcett is granted with privilege as the result of his upbringing, he does not seek the city out of any sense of entitlement or search for personal glory; rather, he feels frustrated that no one has been able to discover such an important achievement in civilization and feels obliged to complete something that was never thought to be attainable. Hunnam is able to examine how this narrow-minded viewpoint turns Fawcett into a monster of his own creation; he ultimately is willing to risk both his own life and that of his family in order to finish a suicide mission.
The Lost City of Z is a very psychological film, as it examines how the best of intentions can go awry as the result of unchecked ambition. The dynamic between Fawcett and Costin embodies this, as Pattinson is able to show how the corporal’s unflinching loyalty ends up costing him greatly. Holland also gives a strong dramatic performance that adds some needed emotional weight to the film’s ending. It is a great shame that The Lost City of Z was only released into a select number of theaters by Amazon Studios, as it is a probing, beautiful historical epic that deserved to be seen in the best possible format.
The Lost City of Z
- Release Date
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April 21, 2017
- Runtime
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141 minutes
- Director
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James Gray
- Writers
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James Gray
