★★★
Lost City of Z doesn’t satisfy an audience as much as it could. It’s a historical movie with rich visuals of the UK as well as South America, and it’s an interesting story of adventure and exploration at the turn of the century. It also deals with universal concerns like love, family, class and equality that impact all of us. But despite all these appeals,
Z doesn’t engage or reward us.
The script is a major problem here, and its biggest flaw is its failure to give us a consistent central figure. Throughout, it’s hard to understand what drives Percy Fawcett. Early on, it seems his battle is with an Edwardian society that won’t accept people of his class, though his problem might also be one of family honor since we’re told people knew of his father’s alcohol problem. But we also see Fawcett and his wife talking about needing money early in the film, too, so that’s also posited as a possible motivation. After Fawcett’s first trip to Bolivia, the script introduces religion and its role in perpetuating bigotry, and that topic even arises at the end of the film. But it also seems that Fawcett has become concerned with his reputation as the film progresses.
Z moves from one of these motives to the next, dropping the preceding motivation in favor of the immediate but not delivering on any particular topic.
The script also has structural failings. For example, a large section in the middle of the film follows Fawcett in WW I, but it’s not clear what this part contributes to the search for Z or to the development of the Fawcett character. It’s an overly long digression with only vague relevance to the rest of the film. Similarly, Fawcett’s visit to the opera house on his first trip to Bolivia is a highlight that the film emphasizes. It’s not only visually striking, but it delivers the pointed theme that Fawcett’s survey work will help preserve the status quo in the area, which includes the brutal enslavement of the locals. By the time of Fawcett’s last trip, the opera house is in ruins, but we’re left to wonder what to make of the script’s insistence on the contrasting scenes and how to relate them to any continuing theme in the film. Another problem is that the dialog in
Z can overstate conditions the film hasn’t shown us and try to create a dazzle that the script hasn’t earned. There are many examples of this, but one of the most striking is at the end when Fawcett tells his son that they have seen things no one else has seen but the film hasn’t shown us these things.
Script aside, the performance of Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett, is another problem in
Z. Though the film gives him room for communicating Fawcett’s passion, Hunnam remains so aloof that his verbal assertions don’t mesh with what we see of him on screen. We hear Fawcett talk about his intense desire to prove the existence of the City of Z, but we hardly see him obsessing or preoccupied by that passion. In a similar vein, we hear him talk about his love and attachment to the children, but we feel little chemistry between them based on what we see on screen. Our failure to see a connection between Fawcett and his family becomes especially important at the end of the film when his rebellious older son becomes one of the main characters.
Despite all these weaknesses that hobble
Z throughout, James Gray manages an eerily beautiful ending to the film, one illuminated in the jungle by torchlight as Fawcett moves towards peace. It’s a pity that haunting ending couldn’t come as the final images of a film that held together well before it.
Atlanta Film Festival: Thursday March 30 7:00pm at the Plaza Theater.
