Since the trend began to fuel the adventure genre with funny film productions (often starring Dwayne Johnson), the more serious works have been somewhat lost. On Amazon Prime Video However, there is a significantly underrated adventure film available for rent or purchase that stands out not only for its aesthetic quality, but also for its compelling story, which is based on true events: “The Lost City Z“.
Mainstream jungle cinema has been pretty uniform in recent years: the sequels to “Jumanji,” “Jungle Cruise” and newer productions like “The Lost City” starring Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock make things relatively easy. With a lot of humor, these are more adventurous comedies intended to appeal to a wide audience. Brave films like ‘Jungle’ (2017) or ‘Apocalypto’ (2006), which go in the opposite direction and rely on dense atmosphere, have a much harder time. And right at the top: “The Lost City of Z” by James Gray (“Ad Astra)”, a film that could not even recoup its budget, even if it was Wonder star Tom Holland (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), DC star Robert Pattinson (“The Batman)” and Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Lawlessness”) can arise.
That’s what “The Sunken City of Z” is about
When British explorer Percy Fawcett (played by Charlie Hunnam in the film) set out to explore the South American jungle in 1906, he was faced with an adventure that lasted almost twenty years. He recorded his experiences in research reports, which provide insight into what such a company looks like and what problems he faced.
His journey through the jungle to discover a mysterious culture ultimately proved to be his undoing, when he and his companions, including his son Jack (Tom Holland), vanished from the face of the earth as part of his 1925 expedition. Months turned into years, years became decades and so a real mystery arose around the end of the ‘last explorer’, as he is called in some circles.
Even after 84 years, when David Grann’s book of the same name “The Sunken City of Z: Expedition of No Return – the Secret of the Amazon” was published, in which Fawcett’s reports were adapted into a novel, there are still many unsolved questions that even the film adaptation cannot answer. However, this was by no means the claim. Gray’s adventure film is about the aesthetic tracing of the Percy Fawcett myth.
The actual story, which alternates again and again between the jungle and the London house and chronicles Fawcett’s life not only as an adventurer but also as a visionary, takes a turn towards the end. So you realize only belatedly that, strictly speaking, it is less about the hardships of the expeditions through unknown land and more about the legacy Fawcett left behind. This gives Gray’s film gem a very special, almost sublime atmosphere.
An adventure film that does justice to its myth
With authentic actors who push themselves to the limit, atmospherically charged images and a story that not only focuses on the historical film portrait but also goes beyond it, the unsolved case of Percy Fawcett becomes immortal. The film adaptation is in no way inferior to the original novel, on the contrary. Book and film merge almost like yin and yang and become almost inseparable – a praise that cannot be given to most new film adaptations.
‘The Lost City of Z’ had to make do with a budget of $30 million, which of course sounds very paltry compared to the Dwayne Johnson blockbuster ‘Jungle Cruise’, which cost $200 million. Gray still managed to get the best of the best, not only in terms of features, but also in the already praised aesthetics.
If you’re not yet familiar with this more serious adventure film, watch it as video on demand on Amazon Prime Video – ideally in the later hours so that the crackling campfire and multitude of jungle animal sounds can fully develop. effect.