7 Things I Learned While Watching "The Lost City of Z"

1. As an American, it's literally impossible for me to think of the pronunciation of the letter Z as "Zed." Impossible. No matter how many times they say it with the British pronunciation -- "City of Zed, City of Zed, City of Zed" -- as soon as I see the words in writing, I think, "City of Zee."

2. Speaking of mental impossibilities, it's apparently impossible to watch Charlie Hunnam in 7 seasons of Sons of Anarchy and then watch him in anything else without thinking of Jackson "Jax" Teller, his character from that show. I usually have a more open mind when it comes to this kind of thing, but this was too much of a challenge for me. This is nothing about his performance as Percy Fawcett, the English explorer who became obsessed with finding a lost civilization in the Amazon Jungle. The performance is good enough. But put him in period clothes and a wildly different setting, it doesn't matter. Whenever he'd get angry in this movie, I'd think, "that other guy better watch out, or Jax is gonna put him in the ground!"

3. We need strong visual signifiers to remind us what time period a movie is set in. At one point, the person watching this movie with me asked, "did they discover America yet?" and I reminded them that the movie takes place in 1905 (at least when the movie begins). It was not the other person's fault. We really need those signifiers. It's why movies set in the Vietnam War always, always include a song by either Creedence, Hendrix, or Morrison early on, why movies set in the 50s always include at least one scene with a Donna Reedish, Rockwellian family, why movies set in the 40s -- even those that don't actually have anything to do with World War II -- always contain visual references to World War II. We need those signifiers. Quick, what's a good visual signifier that cries out "1905!" Yeah, I don't know either. Neither did the filmmakers. I don't blame them a bit.

4. This is based on a true story?!? I didn't realize this until the movie was roughly halfway over.

5. There were opera houses in the middle of the jungle? I thought that was just a figment of Werner Herzog's imagination.

6. Explorer James Murray was one of the biggest ******** who ever lived. Fill in the blank with your choice of insult or swear word, and it's probably true. Having read a book on Shackleton's notorious "Endurance" expedition (the one where the ship got stuck in the ice and everyone nearly died), and having seen both a documentary and a drama based on that incident, I was vaguely familiar with Murray as an historical figure. He appears as a supporting character and a sort of pathetic villain in The Lost City of Z. And yeah. He's a real jerk.

7. The Lost City of Z is a pretty good movie! But come on, Brits. It's pronounced "zee."