Review: The Dig

The Dig is a beautiful film. Perfectly acted by Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, meticulously crafted, and wonderfully shot. Through elegant cinematography, we get an engrossing story filled with wide and exterior camera shots of the English countryside. A treasure waiting to be told.

---

Director Simon Stone's (2015's The Daughter) little film truly is a hidden gem waiting to be dug up. Our story follows a true-life tale of an excavator, Basil Brown (a meticulous Fiennes), and his team discovering a large wooden ship from the Dark Ages while digging up a burial ground on a woman's (an elegant Mulligan) estate. Coming off a hot awards streak with Promising Young Woman, Mulligan gives another rousing performance completely different from her portrayal in director Emerald Fennell's Me Too revenge thriller. Here, Mulligan is soft-spoken, warm, and incredibly moving with her gentle portrayal as Edith Pretty. Pretty is a mother, who has been struggling with health conditions that affect her heart. Stone's movie reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England — playing loosely to the true-life story, but also allowing the actors (Fiennes and Mulligan) to take the narrative down their own path.

These creative narratives play out well for this 1930's storyline, always pointing our audience in the right direction. During the film, Brown uncovers two early medieval cemeteries that date from the 6th to 7th centuries. One of the cemeteries had an undisturbed ship burial with a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artifacts. Now, most of these objects that Brown and his team dug up are held by the British Museum. I am not sure if this movie will get any Oscar nominations come March 15th, but if it does, I hope The Dig receives nominations for cinematography, production design, and costume design. Through Mike Eley's luscious cinematography, Stone's vivid direction, and Mulligan and Fiennes' moving performances, we get one of the first special treasures to come out in 2021.

The Dig is rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned) Brief Sensuality | Partial Nudity.

Streaming on Netflix

Directed by Simon Stone

Starring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Monica Dolan, Arsher Ali, and Joe Hurst.