A fabled explorer heads into the heart of darkness
When Joseph Conrad published “Heart of Darkness” in 1899, he effectively described the motivations and danger of British imperialism in the uncharted wild places of the modern world.
It’s one of the world’s most studied novellas, an inspiration for further books, plays, films, and other works of art. It challenges assumptions about the nature of humanity, about the very ideas of civilization itself.
There can be no discussion of a work that focuses on a river voyage through a jungle without mentioning Conrad. Apocalypse Now is, of course, the most famous adaptation, but any depiction of a boat in a jungle invariably leads to thoughts of Kurtz and the horror he expresses.
The Lost City of Z is not an adaptation of “Heart of Darkness”. But it is a biopic of the type of man that can be found in the tale. The film tells the story of an explorer that pines for the depths of Amazonia, a man that spent his life searching for evidence of an ancient civilization, one far older that his own, that can provide a link between worlds.
Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) was by all accounts an accomplished British military officer, cartographer, and self proclaimed archeologist. The film notes that much of his drive to succeed was based on a desire to prove himself to British society, as his father was regarded by most as a drunk and gambler.
In any case, The Lost City of Z recounts Fawcett’s life as an explorer, first as a surveyor for the Royal Geographical Society and later as a famed adventurer known worldwide. Fawcett, along with his trusted men, spent years in the uncharted greens of Bolivia and Brazil, encountering cannibal tribes, suffering from blood borne diseases and hunger, searching with abandon for a city he believed to be hidden in the jungle.
Many of his exploits inspired other explorers, leading the discovery of a variety of archeological sites like Maccu Pichu. Fawcett led several expeditions into the jungles—he brought back reports of pottery and signs of a civilization as well as descriptions of wild, unknown animals like the anaconda.
Many of his reports were dismissed as nonsense by those back in Britain. In particular, those in charge argued that savages found in these areas of the world were not capable of building anything beyond simple grass huts.
Fawcett himself was convinced of the brilliance and utility of the native tribes, particularly their ability to cultivate the jungle. His expeditions, however, proved mostly fruitless in terms of finding lost cities. Circumstance and the advent of World War I prevented Fawcett from realizing his dream.
The film does an admirable job of depicting the character of Fawcett and the complexities of imperial exploration, particularly the attitudes held by the British towards the native people of South America. However, this is a film divided.
Much like the experiences of the protagonist, the audience’s wonder at the beauty and mystery of the jungle is too frequently interrupted by the realities of European politics.
It is certainly possible that the filmmakers do this deliberately, in order to elicit sympathy for Fawcett, and demonstrate the futility in his quest, but there is a certain frustration to being pulled back to dreary old England for a war when such a discovery is at stake. It makes the film uneven in places, and as it happens multiple times, eventually it feels like the film is going nowhere.
At nearly two and a half hours, the journey feels overlong and unsatisfying. To be sure, the film is pretty and the performances are strong. Hunnam, in particular, is well suited for the part.
But still, there is a pointlessness to the experience. The real Fawcett disappeared in the jungle with his son on his last expedition, thought to be lost to the natives he so adamantly defended.
The film attempts to insert hope into the narrative, but given what we’ve learned about the characters in the previous two hours, it seems unlikely that the film’s proposed conclusion is the correct one.
The Lost City of Z wants to make the point that the journey is what makes life worthwhile. Perhaps that’s true—but that doesn’t make a film worth seeing.