The Lost City of Z

What is it that keeps us going, leading our paths in this world? Dreams and goals. We all have our own ones. Whether it is family, wealth, a legacy or just having fun while we wander this beautiful blue planet. For some, it is the discovery of the wonders that lie beyond our cities and well-known habits.

One of them is Percy Fawcett, an ambitious explorer at the beginning of the 20th century. On the mission to survey Amazonia and chart the mutual boundaries between Bolivia and Brazil, they discover evidence of a lost city or even civilization. The beginning of his destiny.

As I started watching I thought it would be a film like “Journey to the Center of the Earth” or “National Treasure” or even like the Uncharted game series. An adventure film with some comedy elements. Instead, I was given a biographical adventure film with a focus on drama and again a film based on real events but also on a book of the same name by David Grann.

The cast consists of Robert Pattinson as Henry Costin, Tom Holland as Jack Fawcett, Sienna Miller as Nina Fawcett and Charlie Hunnam as the protagonist Percival Fawcett. He was the main reason for me to take a look at “The Lost City of Z”. Although I haven’t seen many films containing him, he became one of my favourite actors in Hollywood through his portrayal of Arthur in “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”. One of the few films I regret  not having watched in the cinema.

While watching “The Lost City of Z”, the film reminded me of the Netflix original “The King”. Telling a gripping story but not like an epic action-packed adventure and more like a silent character drama. Now I can say, it worked.

As already mentioned, the film took my expectations by surprise and told a whole different story than I imagined. A better story. A story of a man on the search for his destiny. When will he discover this mysterious city? A question I asked myself multiple times and if he does, what will he find? As the film goes on we keep questioning whether this expedition is worth leaving family and home behind, again and again. Is it really his purpose to find the city or does his destiny keep telling him to stay in England with what he has been given in life?

Is following your dreams worth leaving things or people behind? A question a lot of us have to ask at some point in life. Or do we already have everything we need and want in our life? No matter how you answer that question for yourself, it’s connected to the overall question of the purpose of life in general. A philosophical train of thoughts that would take us far beyond the film itself. Still, it made me think about those questions and as I mentioned before in the blog post to “Love and Monsters” I enjoy films that give me food for thought.

Anyway, “The Lost City of Z” is a pretty nice film about a man dreaming to discover a lost city. With a run time of 141 minutes, it’s quite long and may be too long for some people’s attention span. For everyone else, who is up to a longer film without much action and more focus on characters, I can recommend this one.