becomes convinced that a lost
city, which he dubs ‘Z’, does in-
deed exist. Over the following
two decades, Fawcett devotes
his life to discovering Z, making
a series of doomed trips to the
Amazon while contending with
the setback of World War One,
and the small matter of his wife
(Sienna Miller) and kids.
From the opening of his film -
ambient rain-forest sounds qui-
essentially to grow up without
ever really knowing their father,
as narcissistic, but it’s a commit-
ment he makes for the better-
ment of the world, of science, of
the adventurous spirit that fuels
human progress.
At one point, the poet Robert
Browning is quoted - ‘A man’s
reach should exceed his grasp,
or what’s a heaven for?’ - and it
could be taken as the motto of
At one point, the poet Robert Browning
is quoted - ‘A man’s reach should exceed
his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’
etly murmuring under a black
screen - Gray draws us into both
the drama and the mind of its
protagonist. As someone who
breaks out in a rash if I leave my
city, even I was won over by the
temptations of the Amazon as
portrayed through the obsession
of Fawcett. Some may see his
quest, which leaves his children
NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 4
not just Fawcett but Gray himself.
Of the many superlatives that
could easily be applied to his
film, ‘ambitious’ is the most apt.
Determined to achieve a sense
of realism, Gray shot his movie in
the jungles of Colombia, ignor-
ing the advice he received from
Francis Ford Coppola to avoid
such madness. This adds an ex-
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