In the early 20th century, British explorer Percy Fawcett made eight expeditions into the Amazonian jungle pursuing evidence of a lost, highly evolved civilisation. James Gray’s spectacular film collapses those expeditions into a tidier history, but the enquiring spirit of the movie holds closely to the wanderlust of the incurable adventurer.

 

It’s hard to think of another film on such an epic scale that contains so careful and nuanced a portrait of the explorer hero or his conflicted relationship with the society that he, in name at least, represents. Charlie Hunnam’s Fawcett is a commanding slow burn from class resentment to mystic quest, with Robert Pattinson barely recognisable as his companion in adventure.

 

Sienna Miller makes a powerful impression as the wife chafing to join him but forever left behind. The cinematography, by Darius Khondji (Se7en, Delicatessen), captures the seductive allure of jungle and river in ravishing imagery fit only for the giant screen.

 

Visit nziff.co.nz to see the full schedule of films on at the 2017 New Zealand International Film Festival. 

 

The grandeur of this movie is off the charts. For a certain kind of old-school film fan, someone who believes in shapely, classical proportions and an epic yarn told over time, it will be the revelation of the year.” — Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out NY, USA