3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Lost City of Z

2016, James Gray (Ad Astra) -- Netflix

Kent wrote about it in his mega-super-duper-2017 post.

I have had this in The Hopper since it came available but never watched it. I made one brief attempt, but was distracted and never got back to it. More recently, I took Kent's advice as to the click-click-click and just chose something and stuck with it.

Nnnn-not sure I was rewarded for that Good Habit. And my immediate thought, after having just completed it, as well as being reminded that he directed Ad Astra is that maybe he cannot get over the hump of "boring" into the realm of contemplative. And yet, That Guy is frustratingly waving his hands over his head at me, like Kermit the Frog. There is something there, and not just the admirable production values, but a director doing a study, and if I was to compare the two movies, a study of fatherhood and your place in the world? Its like that shadow of a proper film critique can see what was going on, but, well, This Guy just didn't care. What frustrates me even more is my age-old (and entirely questionable) love and fascination for British Empire era exploration, which is the whole point of this movie. And yet, I wasn't captured.

Percy Fawcett was a British military man and explorer at the beginning of the 20th century. Fawcett was friends with Arthur Conan Doyle and it was his own reports of expeditions into the Amazon that inspired Doyle's novel The Lost World.

The movie begins with the military man (Charlie Hunnam, Pacific Rim), an officer of rank but no privilege of family, his own having barely survived a scandal. In order to regain his family name, which will provide a life of stability to his beloved wife "Cheeky" (Sienna Miller, 21 Bridges), he must do something. He is asked by the Royal Geographic Society to help them fill in the blanks on the maps in Amazonia. He will be gone a long time, some years likely, but both know he has to do it. There is an undisputed statement about having a place in the social strata of the British Empire; the movie does little to comment on that requirement, beyond banal acceptance.

Fawcett's first expedition is a success, despite the hard conditions and the political situations involving the Portuguese and the borders between Brazil and Bolivia. He is supported by fellow British military men Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson, Mickey 17) and Arthur Manley (Edward Ashley, The Terror). On this first adventure Fawcett learns of a lost city, and discovers some unexpected pottery and statuettes in the jungle. Modern civilization is deep in the throes of the superiority of western culture and dismisses that any peoples of significance could have built cities in this savage land.

Back in England Fawcett is determined to return to Amazonia to find this Lost City of Z. Mostly derided for his beliefs in South American civilizations, he does make a connection with nobleman James Murray (Angus Macfadyen, Braveheart) who agrees to back Fawcett as long as he can come along. That is a mistake. He was expecting a challenging but straight forward journey, but didn't expect hostile natives, terrible heat, questionable food and becomes more and more a hindrance to them. After he is injured, they send him with their final horse, to a nearby mining camp, but Murray's bitterness has him ruin the expedition's remaining supplies. The journey is ended without any findings.

Back in England, Murray is embarrassed over his actions and accuses the men of abandoning him. He wants reparations in the form of a public apology which Fawcett refuses. Even as he sees any chance of standing in British society escape him, WWI breaks out and the three men are sent to war. Avery dies in battle, Fawcett grievously wounded by mustard gas. He retires to obscurity in the countryside.

A decade later, fueled by tales of his expeditions (while not mentioned in movie, remember Doyle?), Americans want to fund another expedition to be led by Fawcett. While still not in good standing with the British Geographical Society, they do not want to be shown up by the Americans so they also provide support and funding. Along with his now grown son Jack (Tom Holland, Cherry), Fawcett sets out with a well provisioned expedition. They never return. They are never found.

I guess what I enjoyed about these older movies of Imperial Exploration was the actual exploration. The scenes of the journeys in the jungle are not meant to romanticized in this movie, as they are harsh and dangerous. Death is expected. But what bugged me about this movie is how they are depicted pretty much as two men tromping around in the forests with only the packs on their back. Sure, men have done such, but these British expeditions were always previously shown as giant wagon trains, and dozens of men and animals, tents in the forest, brave souls hacking their way through wild lands. That is not this movie. While Fawcett is shown as a brave and capable man, it is more about personal pride than any true desire to find anthropological meaning. And once again, if the movie was trying to explore a man challenged by his place in society, its there but I was .... bored by it.