The Lure

Some people play the lottery, others go searching for treasure buried in the Rocky Mountains by an eccentric millionaire. Tomas Leach’s documentary zooms in on the latter: tireless hunters searching for the gold-filled chest that octogenarian Forrest Fenn claims to have hidden years ago, free to the finder. The former art dealer has supplied cryptic clues for devotees, many of whom seem to be spending more money and time than a million or so might merit. Krysta, who looks a bit like a bohemian Sharon Stone, has shelled out more than $30,000 on her quest and still hikes around the Rockies in her designer climbing gear, ever hopeful. But the cash isn’t really the point to the truly obsessed: it’s the winning or the ‘bragging rights’, as David ‘Desertphile’ Rice calls it. A former computer programmer now trying to make it as a rancher, this wild bearded man is perhaps the most eccentric of all. There’s a deeply awkward exchange when he meets Fenn himself and tries, vainly, to underplay his excitement and desperation. Despite being interviewed for this, Fenn remains frustratingly elusive – but then, like his treasure, that is probably the point. ‘The Lure’ is a fascinating doc and beautifully filmed, but by its very nature it is only part of the story.