The Lost City of Z: Man’s quest for self

The first is a ferocious argument between husband and wife on whether the jungle is fit for a woman, and the second, explosive one, where older son Jack confronts his father for abandoning the family in favour of seeking the thrill of exploration. Miller gets a rare chance to show her mettle and provides an essential foil for Hunnam’s Felix. It is Nina who finds the page of the conquistador text in a Dublin library, shedding light on this potential city, and it is she who in the last moments of the film gives what turns into the film’s own thesis statement. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp,” she says, sadly, late in the film. “Otherwise, what’s a heaven for?”

It’s a discomfiting fact that this also applies to the film’s grasp, which does not always reach its ambitions. And, yet I felt compelled to write about The Lost City of Z and to encourage audiences to give it some attention. At the end of it, it’s doubtful that we emerge feeling as if we know Felix Fawcett. Still, his almost iterant belief in something greater presents a compelling, if idyllic, metaphor for life in trying times. After all, what a noble flaw in a film, in life, to fail at striving for excellence than to merely settle for mediocrity. The Lost City of Z does not quite reach the apex of grace but its attempts to do so linger in the consciousness. It is a sort of reminder that amidst the general sameness of life, there’s always something more worth striving for.

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