Review 408: The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z is an excellently crafted historical adventure film, tense, exciting and featuring superb performances from its four leads.

Based on the non-fiction book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann. In 1905, British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) is sent by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to Bolivia and makes several attempts over the next 20 years to find a supposed ancient lost city in the Amazon

The plot is

Obsession: What starts out as a simple assignment for the RGS turns into an obsession as Fawcett becomes more and more driven to discover this lost city in the Amazon, this causes him to turn a blind eye on his career and his family. He distances himself from his wife and his relationship with his son becomes strained.

Courage: Part of the appeal of this story is Fawcett's daring and bravery to venture out into the unknown, a place full of wild animals and natives a place that they are unprepared for. The sense of discovery. Courage is also reflected in Fawcett's son Jack at an older age when he decides to come on an expedition with him, knowing that neither of them might come back alive.

Redemption: In the early 1900's people were more close-minded than they are today and wouldn't accept the possibility of anything new or out of the ordinary. When Fawcett announces the possibilty of a lost city existing, he's ridiculed, people refuse to believe him, but when he digs up proof and convinces the RGS of its existence he's redeemed in their eyes. He also redeems himself with his family realms

Writer/director James Gray’s direction is  the cinematography is beautiful and captures the beauty of the and the Amazonian forest, the costumes are colourfully majestic, the production design (recreating the early 1900's) is excellent and full of detail, the score by Christopher Spelman is rousing

Charlie Hunnam

Robert Pattinson

Sienna Miller

Tom Holland

Ian McDiarmid, Harry Melling, Clive Francis