“Our world has set itself afire. I must look elsewhere to quench the blaze.”
James Gray’s film tells the story of British explorer Percy Fawcett’s search for an ancient civilization deep in the Amazon jungle in the years before and after the First World War. Even as he faces professional and personal resistance to his quest, Fawcett remains driven to seek for something else.
Ostensibly a tale of adventure and colonial power, The Lost City of Z feels classical in its storytelling and sense of scale. Alongside its visual grandeur, it’s a film with a literary sensibility. It avoids standard screenwriting narrative conventions in following Fawcett’s journeys and caesura. Gray and cinematographer Darius Khondji’s gifts for imagery pay major dividends in the end, offering up an image of the sacrifice that the quest for transcendence may demand.
The Lost City of Z shows how passion inspires devotion from those we love. While we may question Fawcett’s motives and judgment, the questions the film poses dwell long after it is over.
—Anders Bergstrom, 3 Brothers Film
Arts & Faith Lists:
2017 Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury — #5