Trailer for THE LOST CITY OF Z

Andrew Sieger

If Raiders of the Lost Ark instilled a love of explorers and adventurers then you should know the story of Colonel Percy Fawcett and his ill-fated journey to find the Lost City of Z.  Fawcett was a real life surveyor and map maker of the Amazon jungle who became obsessed with finding the remains of a lost civilization.  What makes his tale so famous and legendary is that in 1925, Fawcett entered the jungle with his son and a family friend… and was never heard from or seen again.

The quest to find Colonel Fawcett has taken on a life of its own and has almost eclipsed the man himself.  Now comes the latest trailer for a gorgeous looking film based on the excellent book, “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon” by David Grann.

The film, directed by James Gray, looks like an old fashioned adventure tale that tries to get into the mind of what would make a happily married family man leave the comforts of London and travel to the dangerous unexplored regions of the Amazon jungle.  The trailer also shows us that Percy Fawcett consulted psychics and felt that his mission was divinely inspired.  The cinematography looks sumptuous and conveys the appeal of adventure; of venturing into the blank spaces on a map, of following the bend in the river and seeing a magnificent city that has remained hidden for thousands of years.

            Fawcett remains one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of exploration.  Maybe this film will inspire another attempt to find out what happened to this courageous and heroic man? 

            The film stars Charlie Hunnam as Fawcett, Sienna Miller as his wife and a pair of excellent English actors, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson.  Hunnam, in a part originally to be played by Brad Pitt, can sometimes be a bit wooden and stiff.  I was especially disappointed by his lack of screen presence in Pacific Rim.  But I’m willing to give him a chance to inhabit this rich character and make us empathize with the obsession to explore the unknown.  He certainly looks the part.

            Unfortunately, the film itself remains just a little further around the bend.  It opens in the U.S. on April 14^th.