Paddington in Perumay be the third movie in thePaddingtonfilm series, but it’s also part of a much larger collection spanning the entire history of cinema. The story of “El Dorado,” the city of gold, is one of the oldest and most impactful narrative traditions to come out of the Americas, andPaddington in Peruis built on it. The oldest references to El Dorado date back to the 16th century when it motivated Spanish conquistadors, but in the past 500 years, El Dorado has inspired countless adventures, both fictional and real.
Originally, “El Dorado” referred to the gold-covered king of the mythical city and was likely based on the real traditions of the Muisca people of modern-day Colombia. Based on legends of gold, the Conquistadors conquered the Muisca and looted their gold, but the real gold of the Muisca could not compare to El Dorado. In the following centuries, stories of El Dorado led to countless explorations from the conquistadors and to the death of prominent Elizabethan noble Sir Walter Raleigh.Ultimately, El Dorado was just an incredibly compelling story.As such, it’s hardly surprising it has inspired so many different movies.
In the year 2000, DreamWorks released the instant animated classic,The Road to El Dorado.For many young audiences,The Road to El Doradowas an initial introduction to the lost South American city of gold.InThe Road to El Dorado, the eponymous city is not the wish-fulfillment fantasy of the historical legend, but a real city with living inhabitants. Furthermore, protagonists Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) and Tulio (Kevin Kline) are not working for the glory of colonial Spain but are instead poor adventurers and con artists.
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Another interesting divergence between the mythology inThe Road to El Doradoand the historic legend is that the central antagonist in the movie is Hernan Cortes, voiced by belovedWinnie the Poohactor, Jim Cummings. While Hernan Cortes was a real conquistador, he wasn’t in charge of a search for El Dorado in South America, but the conquest of the Aztec Empire in modern-day Mexico. Nevertheless,the all-consuming power of greed and the disparate ways in which different cultures value El Dorado’s goldmeansThe Road to El Doradoreally does serve as a good introduction to the legend.
Although the 2022 jungle adventure film,The Lost City, does not reference “El Dorado” or a “city of gold” directly, it is nevertheless clearly inspired by the legend. For one thing,the setting ofThe Lost Cityis a jungle filled with pre-Columbian ruins, which is exactly the sort of setting in which one would expect to find El Dorado. For another,The Lost Cityis centered on a quest for an impossibly valuable treasure hidden in a city that does not appear on any map. Narratively,The Lost Citymatches up with the El Dorado legend beat for beat.
No actual city could ever have lived up to the legends of El Dorado.
But perhaps the biggest and most important similarity betweenThe Lost Cityand the legend of El Dorado is the role of greed in the narrative.Daniel Radcliff’s billionaire antagonist, Abigail Fairfax, is motivated by the same sort of soul-consuming greed that drove countless conquistadors to ruin in the Amazon rainforest. Furthermore,The Lost City’s twist endingmirrors the ways in which no actual city could ever have lived up to the legends of El Dorado. So, even ifThe Lost Cityisn’t about El Dorado, it is still an El Dorado story.
In the real world, the Amazon Rainforest has still not been fully mapped out. Beginning in the 1970s, satellite imagery has improved human knowledge of the Amazon, and the rise of global positioning systems (GPS) has made navigating the Amazon rainforest easier. So it’s understandable that as late as 1925,British explorer Percy Fawcett walked into the jungle in search of what he called the “City of Z,” never to emerge. As such, the 2016 biographical dramaThe Lost City of Z,based onthe true story of Percy Fawcett’s final expedition, owes a lot to the legend of El Dorado.
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Both inThe Lost City of Zand in real life, Fawcett, played by Charlie Hunnam, did not believe in a literal lost city of gold. The secret advanced civilization in the Amazon that he did believe in, however, is clearly inspired by the legendary lost city of gold. A scout at the start of the movie even claims the lost city is covered in gold. And, continuing in the tradition of countless conquistadors and explorers before him,Fawcett ultimately disappeared in jungle, consumed by his quest for a legendary city.
In some ways, everyIndiana Jonesmovie owes something to El Dorado - the model of treasure-hunting scholarship that Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) partakes in is shaped by treasure hunters who looked for El Dorado in centuries past. Butthe treasure-filled city of Akator inIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullis clearly a reference to El Dorado.The lost golden city of Akator, in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, is clearly El Dorado by another name, makingIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullan interesting modern take on the legend.
Dora and the Lost City of Golddid for a 2019 audience whatThe Road to El Doradodid for viewers back in 2000: introduced a new generation of children to the legend of El Dorado. This time, El Dorado is explored not by colonial conmen, but by the live action version of beloved children’s cartoon character, Dora.Like many other movies inspired by El Dorado,Dora and the Lost City of Golddoes not call its lost city, “El Dorado,“but the hidden golden city of “Parapata” is clearly El Dorado by another name.
While Dora’s parents are archeologists inDora and the Lost City of Gold, in the TV show, there is no evidence that this is their career.
What setsDora and the Lost City of Goldapart from other movies based on the legend of El Dorado, however, is the emphasis the movie puts on archeology. In the real world,the discovery of El Dorado would be a major archeological breakthroughthat would completely change what we know about pre-Columbian Amazonian civilizations, so Dora’s parent’s connections to archeology makes the movie feel more in line with what would actually happen if El Dorado were discovered in the 21st century.
The firstNational Treasuremovie,National Treasure, made waves as an action-adventure movie about treasure hunting set in present-day America.Nicholas Cage’s character inNational Treasurehunted for a copy of the American Declaration of Independence; inNational Treasure: Book of Secrets, he searches for a lost city of gold.What setsNational Treasure: Book of Secretsapart as an El Dorado movie, however, is the golden of Cibola is located in North, rather than South America.This meansNational Treasure: Book of Secretsstays true to its roots as a uniquely American take on a classic treasure hunt.
In some ways, Disney’s 2021 movie,Jungle Cruise, is based more on the legend of the “Fountain of Youth,” than on the myth of El Dorado.Protagonist Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) is searching for the Lagrimas De Cristal tree, whose flowers are supposed to have magic healing properties.Jungle Cruiseopens with a scene of a conquistador searching for the tree in the 16th century, just as real conquistadors searched for both the Fountain of Youth and El Dorado.
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The Fountain of Youth, however, was rumored to be located somewhere in Florida, whereas El Dorado was supposed to be somewhere in the Amazon rain forest. The eponymous jungle ofJungle Cruisehas much more in common with the legend of El Dorado than that of the Fountain of Youth, then. Furthermore,the repeated emphasis on cursed conquistadors inJungle Cruisemake the movie feel right at home among the greed-cursed history of El Dorado.
Iconic German director Werner Herzog’s 1972 movie,Aguirre, the Wrath of Godis the rare movie based on legends of El Dorado that talks about the city of gold by name.Protagonist Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) explicitly searches for El Dorado inAguirre, the Wrath of God, and is driven mad in the process.LikeThe Lost City of Z,Aguirre, the Wrath of Godis based on a real historical expedition. In this case, however, the truth behind the movie makes its messaging about colonialism, greed, and destruction hit all the harder.
If the ultimate lesson from the legend of El Dorado is the destructive power of greed, thenAguirre, the Wrath of Godis perhaps the greatest film adaptation of the legend.
The historical Lope de Aguirre was a conquistador from the Basque region of Spain, whose brutality in South America led him to claim the nickname “Wrath of God.” In the film, however,God’s wrath is made real in the madness and death that ultimately claim Aguirrein his search for gold. If the ultimate lesson from the legend of El Dorado is the destructive power of greed, thenAguirre, the Wrath of Godis perhaps the greatest film adaptation of the legend.
ThePirates of the Caribbeanfranchise is, at this point, a five-movie meditation on greed, colonialism, and the role of law. The movie that started it all,Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,is perhaps the franchise’s best encapsulation of those themes. It is also a movie clearly influenced by the legend of El Dorado.Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearlmay not feature a lost golden city or a lush Amazonian jungle, but it nevertheless has its roots in the real-world mythology of El Dorado.
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During the brutal Spanish conquest of South America, it was not uncommon for indigenous groups to attempt to get rid of conquistadors by telling them that El Dorado was deeper in the jungle, giving them gold as proof. The cursed gold inPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearlwas given for the same reason, and the resulting greed of the conquistadors is what led to the curse.WhatPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearlshows is just how influential the legend of El Dorado can be, even in stories that don’t mention it directly.
10Paddington In Peru
Directed by Dougal Wilson
In February of 2024, Sony’sPaddington in Perubecame the latest in a long line of movies about El Dorado.Paddington in Peruis another El Dorado movie that is explicit in its references to the lost city of gold.Indeed, Paddington (Ben Whishaw) is searching for “El Dorado” explicitly, and, like all great El Dorado movies, the central antagonist ofPaddington in Peruis motivated by his all-consuming need for gold. But the thing that really solidifiesPaddington in Peruin the long tradition of movies about El Dorado is its ending.
By the end of the movie, Paddington learns that El Dorado is not really a city made of the metal gold, but rather a secret orangery full of bears and secrets. Because the legend of El Dorado is ultimately a cautionary tale about greed, it makes sense that most movies based on the mythical city of gold do not end with a pile of treasure, but with a lesson learned. As such, the oranges at the end ofPaddington in Perumake it an excellent example of an El Dorado movie.
