You know those stories about people who spent months of their time in the most remote places on Earth, time and time again? Ever wondered what mindset drives them to do this over and over, in near-impossible conditions? The Lost City of Z, available on Prime Video, explores that urge, by way of the story of Percy Fawcett and his search for a South American ancient city that’s he’s certain hides deep in the growth of the Amazon forests. It’s an adventure movie of sorts, a thriller in moments, and a magnifying glass held up to a certain kind of person who can’t let their addiction to the hardship and the imagined reward of exploration go.
Charlie Hunnam plays Fawcett, an Army major who’s tasked with creating accurate maps of a portion of the South American landscape in order to help solve a dispute over a border location. The film’s early scenes show us how unbelievably hard just doing this was back in 1906, with a few men dragging hefty metal and wood surveying equipment through difficult and dangerous jungle. It’s this journey that leads Fawcett to believe that there’s a great lost city somewhere in the jungle, and once the potential for discovery is in his head, he’s fallen down the slippery slope – the metaphorical one, though this terrain is not lacking in literal ones.
He completes his work, but puts together an expedition to come back to the forest and search for the lost city he calls ‘Z’. They suffer disasters, tensions with the indigenous people, and a comical buffoon of a sponsor who insists on coming along himself.
The closer Fawcett believes he gets to Z, the more it only cements his resolve to try again. He’s missing his kids growing up, he’s terrifying his wife – but the movie wants you to understand his compulsions, and I think it really manages it. It shows you clearly why he shouldn’t keep trying this, but you want him to go back just as much as he does… though perhaps your view will shift towards the end, as the views of some of those around Fawcett do. Speaking of which, Robert Pattinson is fantastic (and borderline unrecognizable) in this movie as Costin, Fawcett’s confidant and voice of reason, and Sienna Miller does a magnificent job as his wife, Nina, whose life is also being totally shaped by Fawcett’s focus.
Though based on true events, it appears that the movie takes some liberties with reality – but that’s okay. It’s about the jungle and the obsession, and why someone would want to keep putting themself through this, and I think it achieves that goal well. It has a slow pace that will not be for everyone, and it holds it back from being in our list of the overall best Prime Video movies, but I think that slowness makes it a good weekend movie. Let the Amazon (both the river and the creator of Prime Video) carry you gently for a few hours.
