THE DIG | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Simon Stone (12A, 112 mins)
The excavation of Sutton Hoo near Ipswich in 1938 is made dramatic gold in this deeply affecting historical drama. Ralph Fiennes is Basil Brown: a no-nonsense amateur archeologist digger employed by Edith Pretty’s wealthy landowner, played by Carey Mulligan, to investigate some large mounds on her property. She believes they will be of historical significance and she proves to be right. They are in fact revelatory, providing an insight into Anglo-Saxon life, redefining historian opinions on the ‘Dark Ages’ as uncovered sixth century artefacts reveal a culture that used money, created jewellery and honoured their dead.
Fiennes’ stoic, dedicated digger’s efforts are monopolized by Ken Stott’s snobbish British Museum curator, who brings along his own team to help with the dig. These include mismatched couple Ben Chaplin and Lily James, whose new marriage is obviously floundering – the RAF-bound cousin to Lady Pretty, played by Johnny Flynn, providing a distraction for the latter. Yet these soapy elements do not overwhelm a well-told story of investigation and the permanence of history. Mulligan’s widow, bringing up her son alone after losing her husband, has a heart condition which may mean her own days are numbered. As the shadow of World War II looms, she sees herself in the context of time; Fiennes becomes a surrogate father figure for her son and the continuance of the landscape through the centuries, set to again be disturbed by war, is a constant.
The film is excellently shot by Mike Eley, taking in the wide open spaces around Sutton Hoo as well as keeping us on the shoulders of Fiennes as he struggles against the elements and big city prejudice. Humans are small in many of the landscapes, as they are in the grand scope of history and the stars. Fiennes is excellent as Brown – the unacknowledged finder of these treasures until way after his death – and the whole film is suffused with poignancy. Worth digging into.
Released on Netflix on Fri 29 Jan
words KEIRON SELF