Exploration epic, stirring beyond belief

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2017)

One of the few films I've seen in recent memory that lingers on in a haunting way after you've seen it. It tells the story of Percy Fawcett, the British military officer and explorer who made it his life's work to discover an ancient civilization hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Charlie Hunnam gives the best performance of his career so far as Fawcett. Equally superlative is Sienna Miller, who plays his devoted wife who willingly accepts her husband's insistence on sacrifice in the name of the family and greater glory.
Although this film has a lush, visually splendid look, there is nothing self-indulgent or superficial about it. It epitomizes how arduous Fawcett's objective was and how he never let go of what became his deepest longing. The film earns its running time by portraying the psychology of a man whose dream never leaves him.
I am not sure the extent to which the film scrubs Fawcett of his own attitudes toward the tribal peoples that lived in this part of the world and I don't care. The film does a good enough job or portraying Fawcett in morally ambiguous shades but also refuses to judge him for the man that he was. The film is more about what went from being an impromptu assignment to an intensely personal cause for one man. It is one of the richest pieces of cinema in recent times. Recommended to the highest degree.