The Lost City of Z (2016)

"The Lost City of Z" starts with a title, poster and trailer that are unfortunately more promising than what the movie delivers in the end. What we have here is a sort of a biopic, where the central figure is Percy Fawcett, officer of the British army and one of the explorers of the Amazonian jungle in the beginning of the XXth century, who got credit as one of the first supporters for the idea of an ancient civilization in the area. The movie follows his foot steps into his main expeditions, his more or less fortunate associations with team members, and catches a glimpse also of his family troubles caused by his prolonged absences. There's nothing that moves out of the "average" area in the movie - neither the script, nor the technical part, the acting is not bad, but it's not brilliant either. From some perspective is probably more fair to not have an excessively "romanticized" exposure, in favor of one that's more close to the simple truth, which starts looking more like a documentary from some point onward. But even this feeling - spoiler alert - is messed up by the end, where the truth is left in limbo in regard to the last expedition where colonel Fawcett got forever lost. Moreover, there some speculation in the movie completely lacking any credibility, of him either passing gently to the other side or even more, "relocating" and continuing his life in the middle of the Indian tribes. This comes in the context of pretty much all other sources agreeing on a sad end of the guy. Especially given that neither him, nor his son who was along, never gave any sign of life for their family (contrary to a symbolic "message" as suggested in the film). But well, probably such an ending would've looked too bad. I don't have any other explanation. Anyway, the rest is fine for improving your general knowledge. Although, a more productive activity towards this purpose might be just watching some documentary on National Geographic.

Rating: 3 out of 5