I’d never quite considered how empire building can tear a community apart. It is generally hard to feel sorry for the folks busy traipsing about the globe and conquering the technologically-inferior natives. But, let’s face it, in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the English left a lot of widows and single mothers at home. “The sun never sets on the British Empire?” Maybe so, but it sure set on a number of British marriages, didn’t it?
The real life Percy Fawcett, Major, (Charlie Hunnam) was a casualty of non-war. Unable to pull field command in the five minutes the British weren’t busy imprinting themselves on the world in the early 20th century, Percy had no medals to show for his mad deer huntin’ skillz. This is something of a sticking point as Fawcett’s father squandered all the family honor on buggery or some such foolishness. Hence, when offered a thankless role of helping keep peace between Brazil and Bolivia, Major Percy jumped at the chance to be away from his pregnant wife (Sienna Miller) and toddler son for a few years. Yeah, that wouldn’t fly in my HH. Just sayin’ that right now. I mean, if you think about it, Major Fawcett trades his wife, son, and birth of his child for a small chance at alleviating his inferiority complex. They don’t give out medals for parenting, donchaknow?
On the ocean crossing, Major Fawcett acquires fellow officer Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson, nearly unrecognizable in near comical beard) to substitute for his family. Sad to say Pattinson doesn’t seem to sparkle beneath the equator. Is this part of the Coriolis Effect? And up the Amazon everybody goes for a healthy five minutes or so. Oh, sure, we’re told it’s an ordeal, but truth is you’ll see more South American jungle in the opening credits of Raiders of the Lost Ark than you’ll find in The Lost City of Z. Speaking of which, at the end of tour one, Fawcett finds pottery shards in the jungle and becomes obsessed with the idea of finding an Indian civilization unknown to Europeans. The misused term “Indian,” is used liberally, unapologetically and completely without irony in this film. (This may well have been convention of the day, but I found it off-putting and sloppy writing.) Also, if you’re reading “Zee” (like I did), that’s wrong, too. The tale is English, so it’s The Lost City of Z(ed).
At some point in the film, the Major’s inferiority complex morphs into an actual obsession. And while most of the film is actually set in Europe, all of those scenes revolve around “when is Percy going to leave again?” And now I’m thinkin’ Sienna Miller had a tough time keeping that American Sniper guy at home, too, didn’t she? I’m not sayin’ you’re not pretty, honey, but the men around you seem pretty content with leaving for years at a time. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
I’m being a little harsh on The Lost City of Z. For the most part, the film is watchable if fantastically irrelevant. FF even a generation and the mapping of South America
advances by leaps and bounds. By the time Percy is Lieutenant Colonel Fawcett, he seems obsessed yet still highly unaccomplished. You floated in a raft down the Amazon; you did some on-line shopping; got attacked once or twice. Ummm, yippee? And every time you left home, you sacrificed the well-being of those closest to you. I find it difficult to celebrate either this man or his quest.
The Lost City of Z is pretty film for the limited time it spends in the jungles of South America, but then so Raiders of the Lost Ark, which in the five minutes to open said film tells of a man’s far more successful and adventurous quest in early 20th Century South American jungle. This is one of those cases in which non-fiction truly loses the battle.
♪Checkin’ out the jungle to restore my name
It’s got everything I want honey, gonna get some fame
And you’re a very selfish girl, totes hard to please
Sure I know we’re wedded, bedded, but this sure ain’t a breeze
(I’m goin’) to the jungle. It’s my one goal
Feel my, my, my, my neglect-ing
I won’t ever be seen♫
Rated PG-13, 141 Minutes
D: James Gray
W: James Gray
Genre: Adventureless adventure
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Bucket list enthusiasts
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Abandoned spouses
♪ Parody inspired by “Welcome to the Jungle”
