the dig movie review

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In May 1939, as Europe lurched towards war, amateur excavator/archaeologist Basil Brown, hired to dig up the huge mounds on Edith Pretty's property in Suffolk, struck gold (literally). First, he came across the skeleton of an 88-foot ship dating to the Anglo-Saxon period. This was the first phase of what Sue Brunning, curator at the British Museum, has called "one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time, certainly in British archeology but I would argue in the world." The next phase was discovering the burial chamber within the ship, filled with a treasure trove of almost perfectly-preserved artifacts, made from gold and garnet: a stunning helmet, shoulder clasps, a golden belt buckle. Pretty donated the artifacts to the British Museum, where they sit to this day, known as the "Sutton Hoo find." This fascinating story is the subject of Netflix's new film "The Dig," directed by Simon Stone , with Moira Buffini adapting John Preston's novel for the screenplay.

Basil Brown ( Ralph Fiennes ) is a humble man, of working-class origins, who was taught how to excavate archaeological sites by his father and his grandfather before him. Edith Pretty ( Carey Mulligan ), a widowed woman living on a huge estate with her small son Robert ( Archie Barnes ), hires Basil away from the Ipswich Museum to dig up the mounds on her property. Basil doesn't have high hopes. These sites have been picked over by people for centuries, he informs her. She offers him more money than the museum, so he gets to work. Young Robert latches on to Basil as a new father-figure, and cavorts around on the mound as Basil digs. At first Basil utilizes just a small ad-hoc team, but after the ship is revealed, throngs of people descend onto Suffolk, wanting a piece of the action.

Told with simplicity and grace, and a sensitivity to the pastoral Suffolk landscape of wide fields and wider skies, "The Dig" is often quite thrilling, particularly in the dig's initial phases, when it's just Basil and Edith discussing how to proceed. Edith had a youthful interest in archaeology, and was accepted to university. Her father nixed those plans. She took care of her father through his long illness, and only got married after he died. This sad backstory is described in just one or two lines, but it's all over Mulligan's pinched determined face, dogged by loss and disappointment. Father-dominated her whole life, now widowed, in very poor health herself, she makes the decision to dig up those mounds, even though war is imminent.

The first half of the film is mostly Mulligan and Fiennes, and there's an interesting dynamic at work. They come from two totally different worlds and classes. But they intersect in important ways. They share a passion for knowledge, for discoveries of the linkages between eras and peoples. Tutankhamun's tomb was excavated in 1922 by British Egyptologist Harold Carter, whom Edith name-drops at one point. Edith would have been a teenager in 1922. One can imagine how that world-changing event—and seeing those artifacts for the first time—would have filled her with wonder and awe. She has a feeling about those mounds in her yard. She has a feeling something is down there. When Basil discovers the ship, he declares it sixth/seventh century Anglo-Saxon, and this is at first scoffed at by the "experts." But he's right.

The plot thickens when people descend onto the land, to continue the dig, and jostle for credit. Ken Stott plays Charles Phillips, a famous archaeologist, who declares the site far too important to be in the hands of Basil, an amateur with no formal education. Part of the new excavation team is Stuart Piggot ( Ben Chaplin ) and his budding-archaeologist wife Peggy ( Lily James ). Edith's cousin Rory ( Johnny Flynn , charming as always) takes photographs of the dig. "The Dig" loses a little steam during this section, when it gets side-tracked by Peggy's dissatisfaction in her marriage. Stuart seems just a little bit too into one of his male colleagues ( Eamon Farren ), and Rory is so friendly and gentle and makes Peggy feel things she's never felt in her marriage. These complicated emotional matters arrive over an hour into the film, far too late to have any real staying power. Basil mostly disappears during this section, and the film really misses him.

But this larger ensemble is eventually shuffled into the overall mix. What matters is the dig itself. Stone's attention to detail is crucial: he shows how a dig must proceed, the dangers of a dig, how the artifacts are discovered and then removed from the dirt—the way this is presented helps non-archaeologically-minded audience members understand what is happening and how. You believe in Fiennes' expertise. You believe in Peggy's too. The other element is the approach of war. RAF planes roar over the field with increasing regularity. Everyone knows that once war is declared the digging will have to cease. They're all fired up with a sense of urgency.

There are moments of emotion and triumph, especially during the sequences of discovery, but the mood overall is understated, quiet, thoughtful. Phillips makes an impassioned speech about what the "Sutton Hoo find" means, and it's an important thematic element. Common wisdom assumed the Anglo-Saxons were violent savage marauders, but the exquisite artifacts discovered showed "they had art. They had culture." The Sutton Hoo find represented a shift in consciousness around shared ancestry and legacy, and a sense of ownership over the collective past. These themes are all present in "The Dig" but nothing is underlined or punched up to amplify significance.

Instead, you get Edith and Basil locking eyes across the hole in the ground, speechless, two misfit outsiders realizing they were right, there is something down there, and it is beyond their wildest dreams.

Now on Netflix.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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The Dig (2021)

Rated PG-13

112 minutes

Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty

Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown

Lily James as Peggy Preston

Johnny Flynn as Rory Lomax

Ben Chaplin as Stuart Piggott

Ken Stott as Charles Phillips

Monica Dolan as May Brown

Simon Stone

Writer (novel)

John Preston
Moira Buffini

Cinematographer

Stefan Gregory

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‘The Dig’ Review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes on a Treasure Hunt

A small team makes a groundbreaking discovery in this fictionalized account of an actual archaeological expedition close to home.

By Glenn Kenny

Carey Mulligan’s range is a thing of wonder. If you’ve already seen her as an avenging American in “Promising Young Woman,” watching her in “The Dig” may induce something like whiplash. Here she portrays, with unimpeachable credibility, Edith, an upper-class English widow and mother in the late 1930s who is fulfilling a dream too long deferred.

The dream is to dig up her backyard. It’s a big one, mind you, on her estate in Suffolk, dotted by what appear to be ancient burial mounds. To this end, Edith, whose youthful interest in archaeology was squelched on account of her sex, hires Basil Brown, a determined freelance archaeologist played with stoic mien and working-class-tinged accent, by Ralph Fiennes.

Once the work begins, it becomes clear that something big is underground — this movie by Simon Stone, and the novel upon which it’s based, is a fictionalized account of the discovery of the treasure-filled Sutton Hoo , one of the biggest archaeological finds of the 20th century.

Brown’s crew increases, taking in a dashing cousin of Edith’s (Johnny Flynn, bouncing back from the grievous “Stardust”) and a discontented married couple (Ben Chaplin and Lily James). Big Archaeology tries to horn its way in. Much drama ensues.

Weighty themes are considered here: the question of who “owns” history; the corrosive effects of class inequality; the potentially tragic intertwining of sexual repression and loneliness. To its credit, this consistently interesting and at times engrossing picture declines to strike any of its notes with a hammer. Trading on the great British art of understatement, it’s scrupulous, sober, and tasteful throughout.

The Dig Rated PG-13 for themes and language. Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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The Dig Reviews

The superb acting and gorgeous cinematography, however, isn’t enough to stop The Dig from getting a little side-tracked and bogged down in unimportant side plots and characters who don’t add much to the story.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Apr 26, 2024

Poetic, wistful and elevated with exquisite imagery, The Dig romanticises the unearthing of history.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 11, 2023

It’s really something when a film is not too concerned with the aesthetic but will find the beauty in discovery of one’s own. The Dig is a good picture, wonderfully acted (Ralph Fiennes is tremendous here), and an engrossing reimagining.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 11, 2022

The Dig’s story may be a tad overstuffed, but its entrancing ensemble – which features standout stars such as Carey Mulligan and Lily James – invites investment.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 1, 2022

There’s an almost Malickian beauty to how cinematographer Mike Eley shoots these early scenes. The fluidity of his camera movements, the striking angles, the way nature is admired through his lens – its absolutely gorgeous filmmaking.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5 | Aug 17, 2022

A modest film about an unsung hero, The Dig is an entertaining watch even if its lacking in emotional impact.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 1, 2022

If you think you will be bored, it's totally understandable. But you're also wrong.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 23, 2021

Gentle. Concerned with history. Refreshingly adult.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2021

The Dig charms with both a reverence for the past and thoughtful exploration of life and death.

Full Review | Aug 28, 2021

A rich array of subdued performances and exceptional handheld cinematography grace a delicately woven British period piece. A finely observed film made up of small, touching moments, The Dig is testament to the virtues of understated acting.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2021

The Dig fails to address archaeology on anything more than a surface level, ignoring the fascinating psychological and emotional implications.

Full Review | Jun 5, 2021

The Dig is most definitely a learning experience, but it's also a chance to observe a place that seemingly stands apart from the rest of the country.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 23, 2021

There's a great film to be unearthed from John Preston's 2007 novel, but this isn't it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 23, 2021

"a meditation on the fragility of life, how we're all connected, and what we leave behind."

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 20, 2021

Don't be fooled by the digging and the dirt, this Netflix feature is one of those rare hidden gems just waiting to be unearthed. Quintessentially English, full of charm and tenacity Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan put in star performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 18, 2021

Strong leading performances and a handful of beautifully crafted scenes sit sit by side with much clunkier and more derivative material.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 12, 2021

Great performances from Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Mar 6, 2021

Despite its shortcomings though, The Dig remains a touching drama. It is a well-shot and well-acted look into an intriguing account from history...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 6, 2021

By the end, The Dig has become a moving meditation on both long ago history and our own daily mortality. Strongly recommended.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2021

The elegance in The Dig lies in what it says about the continuity of life rather than the finality of death.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 28, 2021

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‘The Dig’ Review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes Politely Challenge the Foundations of British History

The true history of the Sutton Hoo archaeological find supports a very British film about making the most of fleeting friendships and loves.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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It started with a hunch. Edith Pretty and her husband bought a house at Sutton Hoo, the estate of which contained several large mounds of earth. For years, there had been theories about what might lie beneath — buried treasure, Roman graves or even a Viking ship — but it was not until after Pretty’s husband died that the widow finally followed up on that feeling of hers and resolved to excavate these small human-made hills. What she found was perhaps the most significant archaeological discovery on English soil and the subject of “ The Dig ,” a period piece that Australian director Simon Stone has approached in Merchant Ivory mode.

An homage to such films as “Howards End,” this gentle and almost painfully polite British drama takes place in 1939 on the cusp of World War II, and it rather poetically places the turbulence of the then-present conflict within the perspective of the millennia of human experience that came before. The characters can feel the looming threat of war, and they surely remember the cost of the previous one, and yet they are humbled by the history they’ve been tasked with uncovering: a remarkably intact 7th-century Anglo-Saxon ship.

At the center of this unhurried yet engaging project are two meticulously calibrated performances from Carey Mulligan (playing the 56-year-old Pretty) and Ralph Fiennes as amateur archaeologist Basil Brown (who was slightly younger, 51, at the time). Mulligan conveys the inner strength in a slowly dying character, while Fiennes is surly behind a thick Suffolk accent. Together, the pair explore a dynamic that is not at all romantic — though the possibility flares at one point — but instead treat audiences to an understated show of mutual respect that transcends education and class. Working together, this terminally ill, not-especially-old widow and her loyal servant establish a legacy of their own.

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“The Dig” may have been inspired by a true story, but the age discrepancies do not necessarily matter to Simon or screenwriter Moira Buffini’s approach. Mulligan was no doubt cast for the same reason she accepted her role in last year’s “Promising Young Woman”: She’s among the finest actors working, and it’s a pleasure to watch her explore her range with varied and interesting parts. In any case, “The Dig” is not a work of rigorous history, even if rigorous history is one thread of its many themes. The film has been adapted from a novel by John Preston, which is told through multiple narrators, and indeed, the movie seems to shift its focus at times between three of them: Edith, Basil and Peggy Piggott (Lily James), a professional archaeologist who participated in the excavation and happens to be the author’s aunt (she later remarried and changed her name to Margaret Guido).

At various points, Stone and editor Jon Harris (an experimental chap who’s done some very aggressive work for directors Danny Boyle and Matthew Vaughn) disconnect the dialogue from the footage in which it is spoken, letting characters’ voices precede or otherwise float disembodied from audiences’ view of their sources, giving the film a dreamy feel. Combine that with slightly wide-angle shots of characters wandering through honey-colored fields or all but embracing in nature, and one gets a Terrence Malick-like feeling from the material, although the story is mostly linear by comparison.

“The Dig” is mostly concerned with the politics — sex and class, of course, but especially those of the experts and museums vying for a claim — of the Sutton Hoo operation. It is not especially interested in the treasure itself. The film opens with Basil’s arrival at Sutton Hoo House, where Edith tells him of her hunch. “I have a feeling about this one,” she says, standing atop the now-famous mound where the ancient vessel will be found. Basil did not actually begin with that hill, nor was he paid as much as he demands here, but the movie’s makers want to stress that he was an unsung hero of the dig and that he was later elbowed aside and denied credit by stuffed-shirt types from the British Museum (who may have been as snobbish as the movie implies, but were right to be interested — and even possessive — of such a consequential find).

It is true that the world still might not know what was buried at Sutton Hoo were it not for Edith Pretty and her clever if somewhat unconventionally cultivated employee, though there’s something exceptionally British about all the interpersonal nuances that play out over the few days depicted in “The Dig.” For example, when Peggy arrives as the academically published wife of archaeologist husband Stuart Piggott (Ben Chaplin, who is inexplicably 20 years James’ senior when the two were in reality peers in age and profession), the film imagines a series of microaggressions suffered at the hands of both the sexist British Museum overseer (Ken Stott) and her husband (implied to be a homosexual). But instead of getting angry, Peggy only winces … and throws passionate looks at Edith’s rakish cousin Rory (Johnny Flynn).

Compared with American movies, the film feels so restrained as to seem repressed. In the platonic dance between Mulligan’s and Fiennes’ characters, that’s quite a satisfying line to walk (Basil has a supportive wife, embodied by Monica Dolan, but the connection with Edith works best in the unspoken spaces). But for Peggy and Rory’s carpe-diem romance, that’s a low fire on which to simmer.

“The Dig” is not intended for children, yet it’s so subtle in its conflicts that culturally curious kiddos may take to it even more so than adults, although this is also a good Netflix option for audiences troubled by the more confrontational themes of modern cinema. It’s hard to say whether the period this picture exhumes was any more innocent than what the world now faces, but that’s certainly the way Stone plays it, acting like an urbane orchidologist, cross-breeding contemporary art-house touches with the old-school refinement of a vintage Masterpiece Theatre production. Sometimes the best escape from the craziness of today is to lose oneself in history.

Reviewed online, Barbentane, France, Jan. 13, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 112 MIN.

Production: (U.K.) A Netflix release and presentation of a Magnolia Mae Films production, in association with Clerkenwell Films, developed in association with BBC Films. Producers: Gabrielle Tana, Ellie Wood, Murray Ferguson, Carolyn Marks Blackwood. Executive producer: Anne Sheehan. Co-producers: Redmond Morris, Meg Clark.
Crew: Director: Simon Stone. Screenplay: Moira Buffini, based on the novel by John Preston. Camera: Mike Eley. Editor: Jon Harris. Music: Stefan Gregory.
With: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, Monica Dolan, Eamon Farren, Paul Ready Peter McDonald.

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Review: ‘The Dig’ unearths rich emotions in an England on the brink of war

Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan in the movie "The Dig."

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Sometimes you just don’t want a movie to end. The characters are so vivid and multidimensional, the milieu so inviting, the circumstances so compelling, you don’t want to let go. “The Dig,” starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, is such a movie.

Suffolk, England, with the nation on the verge of war with Germany in 1939, may not sound comforting, but you would be surprised. Despite the prosaic title taken from the source novel by John Preston (based on the true story of the discovery of the Sutton Hoo treasure), “The Dig” is a tale bathed in warm nostalgia and a romanticism steeped in British stoicism, one that allows room for not only the melancholy of classic melodrama, but also sharp wit and a genuine sense of wonder.

For the record:

2:18 p.m. Jan. 31, 2021 An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the Sutton Hoo archaeological find as Sutton Loo.

From the moment Fiennes’ no-nonsense working-class excavator Basil Brown pedals his bicycle up the drive of the manor belonging to Mulligan’s upper-class widow Edith Pretty, “The Dig” charts a path that admittedly appears to be straightforward at first impression. With local museums rushing to finish projects before the impending war, Basil has been summoned to dig up several mounds, presumed to be ancient burial grounds, on the Pretty property. The key question is how ancient? Could they be Viking, or even older?

Once the pair negotiate a fair price, and in spite of their class difference, the proper Edith and the diligent Basil connect over their shared interest in archaeology and mysteries of the past. The mother of a young son, Robert (Archie Barnes), and in failing health, Edith has much on her mind, and Mulligan is terrific at projecting this inner life. It’s a nicely mature role for the actor as a complement to her very different, darkly comic performance in “Promising Young Woman.”

Fiennes , equally at home as a debonair aristocrat or as evil incarnate, here grounds the movie as the sturdy Basil, a self-educated polymath, long underappreciated in a field that values diplomas over field work. His good-natured ease with the curious Robert, whose interests are in the cosmos, belies a latent sadness that infuses his work.

As the war becomes imminent, a virtual circus comes to town in the form of British Museum experts and their entourage, tipped off to a discovery made by Basil that significantly raises the stakes of the project. The new arrivals, including married archaeologists Stuart and Peggy Piggott (Ben Chaplin and Lily James) and Edith’s dashing cousin Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn), transform the narrative in surprising ways. James is especially poignant as a young woman who, stifled professionally and personally, seizes the moment. (The gender and class biases experienced by Peggy and Basil, respectively, echo those recently seen in “Ammonite.” )

Lily James carries a basket of plant cuttings in the movie "The Dig."

Screenwriter (and playwright) Moira Buffini and director Simon Stone admirably juggle the additional characters and storylines, reaching a satisfying mixture of resolution and unresolved curiosities. The richness of the narratives could easily have sustained a limited series.

As with most films involving archaeology, “The Dig” has no shortage of easy-to-reach metaphors, but Buffini and Stone take a broader poetic approach. Existential questions about how we’re remembered, cosmic time and our responsibilities to one another are nimbly woven into the life-altering events faced by each character.

One might quibble with the sentimentality or very modern attitudes toward acceptance on display, but it’s all rendered honestly. It’s an old-fashioned story told in an unexpected way.

Rated: PG-13, for brief sensuality and partial nudity Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes Playing: Available Jan. 29 on Netflix

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Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan out-Brit themselves in gentle Netflix drama The Dig : Review

One the eve of WWII, a aristocratic young widow ( Carey Mulligan ) enlists a local excavator ( Ralph Fiennes ) to find out what's under the large mysterious mounds that dot her rural Suffolk property. Are they Viking burial grounds, or something even older?

Based on fact, The Dig (on Netflix Friday) has the familiar, comforting contours of the kind of prestige British drama that tends to meet itself at the corner of melancholy and cozy — a whole movie manifested from mist-shrouded fields, tweedy elbows, and sublimated feelings.

Fiennes, putting on the flatter consonants and newsboy cap of a humble working man, is the pleasingly named Basil Brown, whose lack of a formal degree doesn't seem to faze Mulligan's Edith Pretty (if that name wasn't also in the history books, you wouldn't blame screenwriter Moira Buffini for making it up.)

Basil is all Edith can really afford anyway, with a large estate to run and a son, Robert (Archie Barnes) to support. But she seems glad for any reprieve from their loneliness, and the little boy quickly latches onto the thrill of a new father figure with kid-friendly tidbits and trivia to spare.

When the silent lumps out there begin to yield something more than old dirt and crumbled artifacts, a bigger crew is brought in to help – suddenly quadrupling both the cast and its capacity for romantic intrigue. There's Stuart Piggot (Ben Chaplin) and his wife Peggy (a brunette, dowdified Lily James), who can't seem to figure out why her husband remains so indifferent to their marriage but so fond of his friend John ( The Witcher 's Eamon Farren). And Rory ( Emma.' s Johnny Flynn), a shaggy blonde cousin of Edith's more blessed with Labrador charm than digging skills.

Director Simon Stone ( The Daughter ) fills the screen with grey-tipped skies and a tasteful strings-and-piano score, and the circa-1939 costumes and interiors are quietly impeccable. A heavier shade of mortality hang over it all though, too — not just the dread of impending war, but other losses and vulnerabilities closer to home.

That's the kind of stuff that actors of this caliber are made for, and Fiennes and Mulligan (operating in an entirely different universe from her current turn in the candy-coated satire Promising Young Woman ) make lovely, delicate work of characters whose emotions operate for so much of the film like icebergs, only exposed at the tip.

The script can't always stay on that path with them as it swings toward sentiment or gets wrapped up in other storylines; some moments register as too subtle altogether, and others not at all. But in the larger sense of whatever a movie like this promises to be — that you will laugh (in a properly low-key English way) and cry (but not too outrageously), and feel the sudden, urgent need to drink milky tea and own a pair of dungarees — The Dig more than fulfills its destiny. B

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The Dig Review

If you’ve ever pined for ‘Time Team: The Movie’, The Dig is for you. Adapted from John Preston’s novel, Simon Stone’s film details one of Britain’s most notorious archaeological digs, the discovery in 1938 of an Anglo-Saxon ship in the burial mounds at the delightfully named Sutton Hoo estate in Suffolk. As anyone who’s followed Tony Robinson presiding over a three-day exploration of a Roman villa in the rain might guess, The Dig has to work hard to conjure up genuine dramas out of the minutiae of archaeology (this is no search for the Ark Of The Covenant), never really raising the pulse rate, but it gets by on strong performances, some gorgeous filmmaking and the always winning idea of good people coming together to do good things.

The heart of the film is the relationship between Lady Edith Pretty ( Carey Mulligan , in a completely different mode from Promising Young Woman ), the widowed landowner who owns the grounds on which the burial mounds are situated, and salt-of-the-earth Basil Brown ( Ralph Fiennes ), an untrained excavator who she commissions (not without money haggles) to uncover their secrets. There are conflicts — the battle between the amateur Basil and Edith and the British Museum (represented here by Ken Stott ) for ownership of the discovery; Edith’s secret illness; an effective set-piece where the site collapses on a key character — but little that truly grips. What is refreshing, however, is Edith and Basil never begin a romantic relationship; instead, it’s a meeting of minds, people who form an intellectual intimacy, and Mulligan and Fiennes play it effortlessly. There’s also an infectious sense of wonder about uncovering history (“The Dark Ages are no longer dark”), rooted in the idea that the past gives hope for the future.

For a film partly about the qualities of Suffolk soil, _The Dig_ could have done with a bite more dirt and grit.

As the story takes place on the precipice of Britain joining World War II, the notion of art surviving for centuries but life itself being very fleeting comes to the fore in The Dig ’s less successful B story. After married archaeologists Stuart ( Ben Chaplin ) and Peggy Piggott ( Lily James ) join the dig, the latter only hired because her eight-stone frame won’t disrupt the fragile site, Peggy is pulled into the orbit of Edith’s cousin Rory Lomax ( Johnny Flynn ), waiting for a call-up from the RAF. While Chaplin and James’ characters are drawn as mismatched in painfully obvious ways, the affair itself is a thin romance-with-a-threat-hanging-over-it that feels overly sudsy in places and on the nose thematically in others (“If 1,000 years passed in an instant, what would be left of us?”).

Best known for Billie Piper ’s Yerma on stage, sophomore filmmaker Stone, working with DP Mike Eley, creates a beautiful-looking film, full of English pastoral beauty and Malick-y lyricism (count the tracking shots of Mulligan moving through long grass in pleated trousers). But perhaps, for a film partly about the qualities of Suffolk soil, The Dig could have done with a bite more dirt and grit.

Movies | 29 01 2021

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The dig - movie review.

In the British period drama, The Dig , director Simon Stone ( The Daughter ) uses a real life historic archaeological dig to explore themes of time, mortality, our connection to the past, and the impact each of us has on the future. With the aid of Mike Eley ’s spectacular cinematography, which leverages the sparse but breathtaking Suffolk grasslands, the result is a superbly crafted slice of British life with a heaping helping of history thrown in for good measure.

As the drumbeats of war rage in 1939 Europe, wealthy young widow Edith Pretty ( Carey Mulligan ) plays a hunch when she hires excavator Basil Brown ( Ralph Fienne s) to explore what she believes to be ancient burial mounds on her vast Suffolk estate.

On the people side of the story, there are many wrinkles and folds, a couple of which are reflected in Edith Pretty’s own story. First, there is the fact that she is forced to reconcile her own time on Earth when it is revealed that she has a terminal heart condition. With her young son, Robert, there’s the question of who will take care of him and how. There’s also an extramarital affair that breaks out involving married archaeological couple Stuart ( Ben Chaplin, The Thin Red Line ) and wife Peggy ( Lily James, Baby Driver ), that is complicated by Rory’s call to war.

Speaking of war, Stone does an excellent job of juxtaposing the serene English countryside with roiling conflict and danger – from both humans and impending war. As the timeline progresses, we notice what were once rather small flocks of British Spitfires flying over grow in numbers and frequency as they rumble across the cloudy skies. The serenity is shattered when one of the planes sputters out and crashes on the farm, killing its pilot.

Stone , who adapts from the 2007 John Preston novel (inspired by true events), deploys many clever little storytelling devices throughout the film, including one in which he detaches bits of character dialogue and lays them over the scene like a voice-over narrative. It’s a nice touch and a quite brilliant tactic that adds another layer to the film’s many.

Mulligan follows her scorching performance in this year’s Promising Young Woman and delivers yet another memorable turn that, quite honestly – along with an equally strong performance from Fiennes – makes the entire film work. Also starring Monica Dolan (TV’s Black Mirror ) as Basil’s caring wife, and Ken Stott ( The Hobbit films) as the curmudgeonly government archaeologist, The Dig is a beautifully rendered experience that, despite a somewhat calculated setup and deliberate pacing, delivers great emotional impact. You just might learn something about history as well.

The Dig is now playing on Netflix .

Home Video Distributor: Available on Blu-ray Screen Formats: Subtitles : Audio: Discs: Region Encoding:

MPAA Rating: Unrated. Runtime: 112 mins Director : Simon Stone Writer: Moira Buffini Cast: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James Genre : Drama | War Tagline: Nothing stays lost forever. Memorable Movie Quote: "There are some things we just can't succeed at no matter how hard we try." Distributor: Netflix Official Site: https://www.netflix.com/title/81167887 Release Date: January 29, 2021 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : An ancient treasure emerges from the soil as history, heartache and dreams intertwine – and a family faces an uncertain future.

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‘The Dig’ Excavates the British Stiff-Upper-Lip Costume Drama

By David Fear

A quick methadone hit for anyone still experiencing Merchant-Ivory withdrawal symptoms, The Dig (streaming on Netflix starting January 29th) is a throwback to a bygone era in more ways than one. The year is 1939, the countryside is English, the upper lips are most definitely stiff. Britain stands on the verge of war, as the RAF planes constantly buzzing past can attest. Behind a large manor in Suffolk, there are a number of jutting, earthen mounds that suggest the possibility of ancient artifacts buried beneath the soil. Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a widow of some taste and renown, has hired a local named Basil Brown ( Ralph Fiennes ) to help her locate any potential findings. The gentleman is not an archaeologist, as he’s quick to point out — he’s merely an amateur “excavator” with a deep knowledge of history, a shyness and modesty in his manner, and a seemingly endless supply of dirt-specked tweed suit jackets.

Edith feels that the land on her estate may be home to a Viking burial ground; Basil thinks there’s something even older lurking under there. As various posh accents bump up against working-class ones, they eventually do discover quite a trove of corroded, centuries-old flotsam and jetsam, which attracts the attention of no less then the British museum. It will eventually be known as the Sutton Hoo Treasure, and were this not lifted from the real-life discovery of a major historical find, you’d have hoped that this dig might also unleash a few disturbed spirits, ready to turn Edith’s estate into a gothic haunted house. No such luck, alas. The only specters here are the Ghosts of Miramax Prestige-Projects Past.

And The Dig really does feel like a movie out of its time, as if the past 20 years of filmmaking hadn’t really happened, it was still normal for movie stars to mope around in class-conscious 20th-century finery instead of capes, and shows like Downton Abbey hadn’t come round to fill the Brit period-melodrama gap. It’d feel like something extracted from a boutique studio’s vault sealed in the 1990s even if the star of The English Patient wasn’t involved. Incidents pile up on one another like sedimentary rock layers — there is a cave-in, a plane crash, someone has a bad ticker (damn rheumatic fever aftereffects!), furtive glances exchanged between numerous parties, an illicit romance or two. Supporting characters drift in and out of the picture, from Edith’s young son to Brown’s neglected yet supportive wife. The arrival of a museum muckety-muck ( The Hobbit’ s Ken Stott) and two married archeologists (Ben Chaplin and Lily James), along with Edith’s handsome photographer cousin ( Stardust’ s Johnny Flynn), complicate things further. A lot happens, with curiously little effect.

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Yet every so often, the film seems to hint that there’s something else happening beneath its exquisitely detailed, meticulously re-created production design — a restlessness buried right under its familiar based-on-a-true-story surface. Director Simon Stone and cinematographer Mike Eley keep nudging things gently into Terrence Malick territory, letting the camera roam behind and beside people in fields, or employing a wider-than-usual lens to give things a pleasantly unsteady, slightly off feel. (Someone’s been paying extremely close attention to the Emmanuel Lubezki method of drifting transcendentalism — Chivo touches abound here.) Several compositions involving natural light, lens flare, and negative space — notably a shot of Fiennes lighting a pipe in the frame’s corner while clear blue sky dominates the rest — are breathtaking. A sequence in which he sits by a marsh’s edge and watches a ghostly ship pass by, reminiscent of what he’ll eventually uncover, is enough to give you goose bumps.

Whether these aesthetic touches are there to serve a larger purpose besides breaking up the narrative monotony, however, isn’t really clear. They could be insinuating that the past is an ever-changing state, constantly rocking the present even as history’s still unfolding, one Churchill radio address at a time. They could be positing that this simple man, steadfast in his devotion, may be in touch with the divine as he pushes back the dirt. They could be Malickisms for their own sake, or run-of-the-mill fandom homages emanating from behind the camera. Who can say, when there are so many windows to stare out of and vintage waistcoats to model, so many plot points to shuffle.

There’s not a single thing wrong with these kinds of red-carpet–friendly U.K. dramas, of course — if anything, The Dig may remind you how satisfying it was, once upon a time, to sit through so much decor-meets-repression cinema after sifting through the remains of your day. It’s simply that this film eventually sputters to its final justice-served disclaimer (it took decades for Brown to get credit for being the one who found these ancient totems) having given you little more than multiple servings of weak English tea. Even Fiennes and Mulligan, class acts both, start to seem bored. This is a passable substitute for the real thing. It could have burrowed so much deeper.

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What it's about.

The Dig is a reliable telling of an archaeological expedition. The setting is Britain in World War II, and a widow (played by Carey Mulligan) hires an archaeologist (played by Ralph Fiennes) to dig through her estate where a historic discovery is waiting to be found. The biggest thrills are a conflict regarding control of the land and its treasures, and an affair that blossoms within the archaeological team.

The film’s cadence is akin to that of a weary traveler sharing a fascinating tale, with each frame lit softly and beautifully. No twist or surprise appears as you turn the corner — you’re merely beckoned to uncover the past amidst a tumultuous, wartime present. Director Simon Stone has capable hands and Mulligan and Fiennes as the leads — supported by a cast that includes the charming Lily James — tick all the British, repressed, stiff upper lip boxes. All, in varying juicy degrees, exhibit an emotional undercurrent befitting the film’s subtle dramatic tension. Those seeking more insight into those undercurrents will come away sorely disappointed, however, as the well-tempered nature of the film keeps it mild and tasteful.

Though it’s not as compelling as it could have been, The Dig is, by all accounts, a lovely film.

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clock This article was published more than 3 years ago

Yes, ‘The Dig’ is a movie about archaeology. But it’s also a lovely meditation on what lasts.

On the eve of World War II, a self-taught English archaeologist, working at the behest of a Suffolk widow with a curiosity about what lay beneath several earthen mounds on her property, made what is considered to be one of the more significant discoveries in British archaeology.

That may be the summary description of the plot of “The Dig” — or at least the historical facts on which the film, and its source material, a 2007 novel by John Preston — is based. But it doesn’t begin to describe what this poetic little film is really about, or what it manages to say about the human condition. Gradually, and with the methodical patience of someone unearthing buried treasure with a tiny brush, “The Dig” reveals itself to be a story of love and estrangement, of things lost and longed for, of life and death — of what lasts and what doesn’t.

Directed by actor/filmmaker Simon Stone, from a richly allusive screenplay by Moira Buffini (“Tamara Drewe”), “The Dig” begins in a straightforward manner: Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) has just engaged the services of Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), a local man who hides his sharp archaeological instincts behind his job description: “excavator” — a designation he has chosen for himself that, like the film itself, engages in misdirection.

Soon Basil’s discovery — that Edith’s estate is a burial ground of sorts — is laid bare, and the film proceeds with the standard fare of so many prestige British dramas. The coming war threatens the project, along with inclement weather and academic snobbery, personified by a pompous archaeologist from the British Museum (Ken Stott), who attempts to bigfoot Brown, commandeering his work site and dismissing his expertise, when word of the dig leaks out.

But slowly, slyly, the film deepens, becoming so much more than a period drama with pretty costumes, plummy accents and petty melodramas. In a sense, the tale of Brown’s work — while momentous both historically and personally, as a tale of stolen credit — is, like what has been dug up in the dirt, merely a vessel for larger meaning.

Subplots involving Edith’s health, her worries for her cousin (Johnny Flynn), who is about to go off to battle, and the unhealthy marriage of a couple hired to work on the dig (Lily James and Ben Chaplin) enrich the sidelines of the story. What might have been mere embellishments, meant to juice up a dusty narrative, are, in the hands of Buffini and Stone, by the end of the film, the whole point.

And what is that point?

On the most superficial level, it’s that archaeology — even when the practice is explicitly being undertaken in a place where a corpse has been lain — isn’t about the dead, but the living. “The Dig” is about the yearning, so human and, yes, so elusive and so futile, to fix the past so that it can be preserved.

Of course, it can’t, in any literal sense. Even the bits of iron, bronze and gold that get saved in museums won’t last forever, any more than the people who made then, or the emotions we feel, and sometimes fail to show, for a loved one.

Brown’s dig dispelled myths about the “Dark Ages,” but “The Dig” explodes another greater and more haunting illusion, with grace and at times exquisite sadness: that we are anything more than ghosts.

PG-13 . At the Angelika Film Center Mosaic and Cinema Arts; available Jan. 29 on Netflix. Contains brief sensuality and partial nudity. 112 minutes.

Action/Adventure
Children's/Family
Documentary/Reality
Amazon Prime Video

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Dig’ on Netflix, a British Period Drama About Archaeology and Aching Hearts

Where to stream:.

Carey Mulligan

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I hereby declare Netflix’s The Dig to be a significant contender for The Year’s Most British Movie. It’s a WWII-period BOATS ( Based On A True Story ) film featuring some, if not all, of the following elements: Repressed emotions, sprawling and heavily decorated estates, scads of plaid and/or bodices and/or boys in boy shorts and long stockings and/or men working hot and dirty jobs but wearing neckties anyway, melancholy longing, a Fiennes, the pursuit of an intellectual endeavor of literary and/or historic import or Judi Dench or Helen Mirren or Maggie Smith. These are not inherently bad things, but they’re very much the very specific things that tend to comprise the genre’s intense and highly concentrated whiteness.

THE DIG : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Suffolk, 1939. Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) lives on many countryside acres in the many rooms of a cushy manse. She has hired humble excavator and amateur archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to unearth what appear to be ancient or semi-ancient burial mounds on her property, and hopefully he’s OK with £2 a week, living in the quarters with the driver and housekeeper, two men and their best digging gear — read: shovels and sweatervests — to help, and her son Robert (Archie Barnes) scampering about in a cape. Being a quite lovely fellow, Basil, er, I mean, Mr. Brown , is fine with all of this. She’s a well-read and curious sort, and has a good feeling about what might be under there, and they share enthusiasm for this dig.

Mrs. Pretty is a widow and Mr. Brown, a couple decades or so her elder, gets letters from his wife every day but doesn’t feel compelled to read them. Will their lips touch? Yes! But only after the dig collapses on Mr. Brown, and he needs to be dug out and resuscitated. “Did you see something? While you were gone?” she asks him after he’s revived, thus establishing their intense, but thoroughly platonic intimacy. Mr. Brown soon finds what will come to be known as Sutton Hoo, a quite literal treasure trove of Anglo-Saxon gold in a boat that was hauled over land and used as a grave. It’s perhaps the most extraordinary archaeological dig in all of Great Britain, so once word gets out that an unlearn-ed commoner like Mr. Brown is in charge, a scholarly snob named Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) arrives to wrest control of the project IN THE NAME OF ENGLAND AND ALL ITS HAUGHTY SELF-IMPORTANCE. Of course, Mr. Brown is in fact fully capable, but doesn’t have a degree, and it takes some convincing of both sides for him to stay and collaborate. Mrs. Pretty promises Mr. Brown that he’ll receive credit for the discovery, and Mr. Brown no doubt relishes telling Mr. Phillips that he’s too heavy to walk through such delicate digging grounds.

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What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Fiennes’ involvement invokes some heavy The English Patient vibes here (note: I hated that movie, but I liked this one). It also has shades of Atonement , The Imitation Game , Darkest Hour , The King’s Speech … all perfectly decent company to be in, although The Dig is the quietest of the bunch.

Performance Worth Watching: Mulligan and Fiennes have strong period-movie game — as ever! — but don’t overlook Downton Abbey vet James, who makes an arguably superfluous character seem, if not essential, then a welcome shot of youth and additional warmth. She shows up halfway through the movie and gives us another achy soul to care about, so we don’t burn out on Mulligan’s melancholy and Fiennes’ doggedness.

Memorable Dialogue: Let’s start with the contemplative quote:

Mr. Lomax: If a thousand years were to pass in an instant, what would be left of us?

And now, the comic exchange:

Mr. Piggott, digging excitedly: Sort of… rusted lumps!

Mr. Phillips: Come on man, where’s your training?

Mr. Piggott: An amorphous mass of corroded objects, sir!

Sex and Skin: Only the most genteel and tasteful of Great British schtups. Also, Lily James lounging in a bathtub.

Our Take: The Dig is rich with the drama inherent in finding very old things in the dirt while some characters — and all of us, really — die slowly, some more slowly than others. Which is to say, if you’re not on the leisurely wavelength of this type of Very British Melodrama, with its understated bits of comedy and romance, leisurely approach to character development and pacing, lush costuming and art direction, gorgeous photography and depiction of very white people doing very white things, its rewards will be miserly.

Those of us who are psyched for 112 minutes of stately melodrama, however, will be pleased; it’s quite frequently a lovely film. Director Simon Stone and screenwriter Moira Buffini, adapting John Preston’s novel inspired by real people and events, strongly compel us to feel invested in the characters and situations scattered neatly among its handful of subplots, all of which convene under a finely considered umbrella idea: our temporary place in this time in this world, rendered all the more fragile by the stupid inevitability of war. It’s a film about who we were, are and will be; about the beauty of art and passion; about identity and function as individuals and a culture. It may also be about the great mystery of wool, and why British people insisted upon wearing it out in the blazing hot sun.

Sure, The Dig fulfills expectations of classical Oscar-bait formula, mostly for better, gilded as it is with intellectual ambitions and strong performances, showy landscapes and sweeping strings, metaphor and symbolism, joy and weeping, strength and frailty, summer wools and winter wools, itchy wools and scratchy wools. But at least it’s not a chilly watch.

Our Call: The Dig is comfort food for tea-time fetishists (and then some). STREAM IT.

Should you stream or skip the Oscar-bait period drama #TheDig on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) January 30, 2021

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba .

Stream The Dig on Netflix

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The Dig Movie Review (2021): A Film That’s Poignant and Engaging

The Dig (2021) slips us inside the archaeologist’s mind and elegantly converges past and present. Graceful imagery of the English countryside adorns the film; a romance grows while another is severed before it sprouts, and archaeology becomes about more than artifacts in and of themselves. The film successfully connects the distant past to the individual in the here and now and coaxes the viewer into taking a heartfelt look into the human condition.

Based on a true story, The Dig brings us back to 1939, when England was on the verge of war. Excavator Basil Brown ( Ralph Fiennes ) and landowner Edith Pretty ( Carey Mulligan ) collaborate on a plan to dig inside one of the mounds at Sutton Hoo. After commencing with the excavation, Pretty finds herself struggling with her health as the team of amateur archaeologists uncover a monumental find: an elaborate Anglo-Saxon ship burial.

Charles Phillips ( Ken Stott ) sweeps in as the film’s main antagonist–a Cambridge archaeologist who works for the British Museum and aims to take control of Brown’s beloved site. Additions to the team include Peggy Piggot ( Lily James ), who brings a layer of romantic drama to the site as she copes with an unsatisfying marriage and aspires to become an archaeologist in her own right.

Performances by the Main Cast of The Dig

Ralph Fiennes seamlessly becomes the rough but humble self-taught archaeologist, whose humility comes with an intense passion and pride in his work. He represents an unsung hero who is overshadowed, and often taken advantage of, by educated elites.

Cary Mulligan as Edith Pretty is likewise convincing in her role as the wealthy widow and owner of the land that ensconces the famed archaeological site. Though a young actress, Mulligan believably portrays Pretty’s maturity and declining health as the film progresses. She lives up to the difficult task of conveying Pretty’s existential vexations as she wrestles with thoughts of mortality and the individual’s place in the whole of archaeological history.

We all fail. Every day. There are some things we just can’t succeed at no matter how hard we try. I know it’s not what you want to hear.

Refreshing performances by Lily James and Ken Stott bring a necessary break from the more self-possessed leads. Ken Stott’s portrayal of the arrogant Phillips teeters on overdone, making Phillips seem almost like a caricature of an egotistical scholar. Despite the lack of nuance, the character adds energy to the film and his antagonism successfully piques the viewer’s interest.

Lily James, an already experienced period-film actress, is an ideal choice for the role of the sprite, young archaeologist in pre-WW2 England. But Peggy Piggot is, unfortunately, one of the least faithful characters to the true story. Written as a novice aspiring to rise up in the field, Piggot is downgraded from the experienced researcher she was in real life. Still, the film takes its cue from the novel in using Piggot for a romantic story line–which adds allure even if it paints a less than accurate portrait of the real archaeologist.

The Dig Keeps a Good Pace and Steadily Builds Our Interest

The first part of the film starts off with Pretty’s disheartening realization that she may not have long to live, despite her first doctor’s optimistic prognosis. From here, mortality is an undercurrent of her story, as she tries to come to terms with the nature of death and what it means archaeologically and spiritually. But the film lingers on these solemn scenes just long enough for the audience to feel along with the characters, but it doesn’t waste time in moving forward.

Edith: We die. We die and we decay. We don’t live on. Basil: I’m not sure I agree. From the first human handprint on a cave wall, we’re part of something continuous. So, we don’t really die.

For a time, we’re teased with a possible romance between Brown and Pretty, but the mild infatuation is tamped down as the film shifts its focus back to the dig and the new archaeologists on the site. A budding romance between Peggy and Pretty’s cousin, Rory ( Johnny Flynn ), breathes more life into the film.

Archaeological revelations that occur incrementally and build in momentum also add energy to the film; perhaps even giving nonfans of archaeology a sliver of enthusiasm for Brown’s find. The conflict between Brown and Phillips and other tribulations along the way all go by the wayside in one climactic moment where Phillips finally realizes what Brown had intuited from the beginning: the site predated the Vikings and proved that the Anglo-Saxons were more culturally advanced than most people had realized.

Archaeology and the Individual

The “I” comes up literally and symbolically within the film itself and also on the cover image where Edith Pretty stands on her land; the “I” in “Dig” stands on her dress with “The” hovering directly above it. In exploring the relationship between antiquated remains and the lives of people in the present, the film touches on the question of where we fit in the grander scheme of the world and its history–a subject especially apt with the threat of a war looming overhead. While The Dig isn’t equipped to explore these questions in too great a depth, it invites the audience to engage in further conversation.

Lovers Peggy and Rory stand around a campfire and ponder what would be preserved if they died there and now. The scene is simple, but emotionally piercing. It shows us that the objects people leave behind are quietly imbued with a range of symbols and emotions that give up a few of their secrets. The film understands the importance of placing this in the context of Sutton Hoo, a site that showed not only what people made, but what people may have thought.

Mark my words May. I won’t receive any credit. I won’t even be a footnote.

Some viewers may feel they should pass on The Dig because it feels disconnected from the plights and preoccupations of our millennium, and the film shows us how studies of the past in the wake of social upheaval can be relegated to a lower tier of importance. But it also works to persuade us that antiquity and the present are not too far removed.

Check out the trailer for THE DIG here:

Cinematography

Outstanding Direction
Great performances by the cast
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Movie Reviews

‘the dig’ review: an endearing lesson in life and history.

‘Digging down to meet the dead.’

The Dig is a delightful historical drama based on the true story of the 1939 excavation of an Anglo-Saxon ship. With excellent performances, The Dig weaves a beautiful story about how our histories can inform our present and future. Ralph Fiennes is as pleasant to watch as ever in The Dig , as Basil Brown, an excavator from the Ipswich Museum. He’s helping a woman named Mrs. Pretty (Carey Mulligan) excavate the mysterious mounds on her land, unsure what they will find. Buried treasure from vikings, perhaps?

Mrs. Pretty’s property is on an idyllic bit of English countryside in Sutton Hoo. If you’ve heard of Sutton Hoo before (or googled it), you may not be surprised by what is to be uncovered. However, if you’re unfamiliar with the English archaeological finds, there’s a bit of fun in the mystery of Mr. Brown’s and Mrs. Pretty’s search. Regardless, it’s still fun to watch the action progress in The Dig.

From early on in The Dig , we see that this excavation will not be a simple undertaking. There is quite a bit of land to excavate; too much for Mr. Brown to do on his own, so Mrs. Pretty enlists some help. Before the film hits the 30 minute mark, Mr. Brown, while talking to Mrs. Pretty about what they’re expecting to find, becomes trapped under dirt. This moment lends a bit of suspense to the scenes that are to come, as the dig gets underway. While The Dig is generally not a suspenseful film, these early scenes of discovery are exciting to watch.

Naturally, once word gets out about Mr. Brown’s incredible find, an archaeologist from the British Museum, Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) shows up to take over the dig. While at first Mr. Brown is terribly offended by this, he eventually returns to work on the dig that he discovered, along with employees of the British Museum. Basil Brown wants not only the credit for the dig, but also to be in charge. Despite the blow to his ego dealt by the British Museum, he’s motivated to continue with his work by his bond with both Mrs. Pretty and her son Robert.

Carey Mulligan delivers an excellent performance as Mrs. Edith pretty, a widow raising her son on her own. She’s fallen ill, and in dealing with her own mortality and questions of the afterlife, The Dig provides us with a story of the legacies we leave behind. Carey Mulligan deserves all the praise she will be getting about her versatility between this performance and Promising Young Woman .

While the bonds Basil Brown forms with the Pretty family are a crucial part of the narrative of The Dig, there are other relationships that don’t feel as important in the film, that are focused on anyway. Much time is spent with Peggy and Stuart Piggott (Lily James and Ben Chaplin); their emotionally disconnected marriage becomes a bit of a side-story to make room for a romance. The light romance of The Dig is not as interesting as the main storyline, though it may serve to appeal to a wider audience.

'The Dig' review: An endearing lesson in life and history

Anxieties about the war color the experiences of everyone in The Dig ; Mrs. Pretty’s cousin, Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn) has to stop work on the dig when he’s called by the Royal Air Force. The drama of The Dig wraps up as Britain joins the war and we learn what happens to the treasures found by Basil Brown. While the war itself is not the focus of this film, we’re called to clearly see how the threat of World War II hangs overhead. Issues of the war aside, The Dig is an extremely pleasant movie; sad moments are balanced out with heart-warming scenes. It feels cliched to call a British film charming , but that’s exactly what it is.

If there’s one thing we’ve come to know that we can expect from Netflix, it’s that the quality of period dramas on the streaming service will be top-notch. The Dig does not let down in this regard; the costumes, sets, and soundtrack all perfectly set the atmosphere of England in 1939 (or so it’s easy to imagine). As such, there is a good bit of interpersonal drama and romance along with the narrative of the dig itself that will endear The Dig to all who enjoy period films.

The Dig comes to Netflix on 1/29/2021.

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The Dig (2021) – Movie Review

Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes in The Dig

¡En español!

I did not expect to get so into The Dig . It looked like it was going to be a chiefly academic recap of a true story -that of the Sutton Hoo finding, as set up in the literal second scene of the film: Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a rich widow and mother of a young son, hires Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), an archeological excavator, to dig up an ancient mound located in her property in Suffolk in 1939. She has a heart condition that she fears might claim her life any day now, and she’s certain there’s something under those mounds waiting to be discovered.

As it turns out, she’s right, and Basil finds remains of a burial site that at first appears Viking (and, therefore, relatively common as far as archeological remains go) but is quickly found to be much older, an enormous ship and tomb of an Anglo-Saxon dignitary (and, therefore, an earth-shattering discovery that would change the modern understanding of the British Middle Ages).

The film is surprisingly to-the-point about these developments, skipping from one to the next with confidence, but what surprised me is that along the way it works in little character scenes that will later develop into a moving emotional throughline, such that by the end the historical plot takes a back seat to the personal resolutions. Edith is concerned by her own mortality, as you would expect, but her involvement in the titular dig is also colored by her frustrated desire to have pursued an education; this puts her on a parallel course with Basil, who is not considered an archeologist by snobbish academics despite his unmatched practical experience. Halfway through the film, a young archeologist named Peggy (Lily James) joins the team and while the insight into her unhappy marriage was for me interesting enough for the secondary or tertiary subplot that it is, its rushed conversion into a love story with Edith’s cousin (Johnny Flynn, whom you might remember from Emma ) feels tacked in and cheapens her struggle.

In the end, the whole film rests on Carey Mulligan (who, in a kind of reverse- Mank , is playing significantly older) and Ralph Fiennes, both of them delivering understated performances that, much like the script, choose to tell transcendental stories through normalcy: Edith’s casual rejection of the stiff suits who try to boss her around is all the more delicious because of the nonchalance with which she puts them down. You’ll be intrigued by what happens with the ancient treasures everyone’s after, but it is these characters who will keep you invested.

The Dig on IMDb

La excavación (2021)

No esperaba que La excavación me gustara tanto. Al principio parecía que iba a ser un relato más bien académico de un acontecimiento real, el descubrimiento de Sutton Hoo, como lo explican en literalmente la segunda escena de la película: Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), una viuda rica madre de un hijo pequeño, contrata a Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), un excavador arqueológico, para que explore un antiguo túmulo que se encuentra en sus tierras, en Suffolk, en 1939. Edith padece una enfermedad cardíaca que teme que le costará la vida, y está segura de que bajo el túmulo se oculta algo que espera a ser descubierto.

Resulta que tenía razón, y Basil descubre los restos de un yacimiento que al principio parece vikingo (es decir, relativamente común dentro de los yacimientos que uno esperaría encontrar en la zona) pero que enseguida se revela como un enorme barco y tumba para un dignatario anglosajón (es decir, un descubrimiento histórico que revolucionará nuestro conocimiento de la cultura medieval británica).

Llama la atención lo directa que es la película con esta historia, saltando de una escena a la siguiente con aplomo, pero lo que me sorprendió más es que por el camino va introduciendo pequeños momentos de personaje que luego desarrolla para formar una base emocional que acaba tomando preferencia sobre el argumento propiamente dicho. Huelga decir que a Edith le preocupa su propia mortalidad, pero su pasión por la excavación también viene de su deseo frustrado de haber recibido una educación; su camino es paralelo al de Basil, a quien los arqueólogos pijos no consideran un igual a pesar de su apabullante experiencia práctica. A la mitad también se une al equipo una joven arqueóloga llamada Peggy (Lily James), y aunque la historia de su matrimonio infeliz es lo bastante interesante para el argumento secundario o terciario que es, la forma en que desemboca en una forzada historia de amor con el primo de Edith (Johnny Flynn, a quien quizás recuerdes de Emma ) desmerece su validez.

En última instancia, la película la llevan Carey Mulligan (quien hace una especie de Mank a la inversa al interpretar a un personaje mucho mayor que ella) y Ralph Fiennes, los dos con actuaciones que eligen contar historias trascendentales mediante la normalidad: la delicada forma que tiene Edith de poner en su sitio a los señores estirados que pretenden darle órdenes es deliciosa precisamente por la sencillez con la que los desprecia. Te intrigará lo que pasa con los valiosos tesoros que todo el mundo quiere para sí, pero serán los personajes los que mantengan tu interés hasta el final.

La excavación en IMDb

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[imdb]tt3661210[/imdb]

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DVD & Streaming
Biography/History , Drama

Content Caution

A man and woman in 1939 look at an archeological dig site in Great Britain.

In Theaters

Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown; Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty; Archie Barnes as Robert Pretty; Johnny Flynn as Rory Lomax; Lily James as Peggy Piggott; Ben Chaplin as Stuart Piggott; Danny Webb as John Grateley; Robert Wilfort as Billy Lyons; James Dryden as George Spooner; Joe Hurst as John Jacobs; Paul Ready as James Reid Moir; Peter McDonald as Guy Maynard; Ken Stott as Charles Phillips; Arsher Ali as William Grimes; Eamon Farren as John Brailsford; Monica Dolan as May Brown

Home Release Date

January 15, 2021
Simon Stone

Distributor

Movie review.

The Sutton Hoo Treasure was discovered in 1939 in Suffolk, England. The owner of the land where it was found, Edith Pretty, had long been interested in excavating what she believed to be burial mounds on the lot. However, after the death of her husband, she put off the project in order to grieve and focus on raising her son.

When she finally was able to revisit the mounds, the country was preparing for war. Thus, neither the British Museum nor the local Ipswich Museum were willing to send one of their experienced archaeologists to a site that might not even have anything valuable to find.

But Mrs. Pretty had a feeling . So she hired Basil Brown, an excavator, to take on the project.

Mr. Brown had worked with the Ipswich Museum on several digs before. But they didn’t take his work seriously, since he hadn’t been formally trained. However, Mr. Brown had been working on digs since he was old enough to hold a trowel. His father, like his grandfather before him, had taught him so much about soil that you could show him dirt from anywhere in Suffolk, and he could identify whose land it came from.

In the end, the work of this “untrained,” self-taught archaeologist wound up uncovering what is still considered the greatest buried treasure ever unearthed in the United Kingdom.

Positive Elements

There is contention throughout the film between Mr. Brown, Mrs. Pretty, and professionals from the museum. At first, the museum tries to bully Brown into abandoning Pretty’s project to help them on a Roman villa. But Pretty defends Brown, stating that it is his choice whom he works for. When the museum later realizes that Brown has discovered something valuable on Pretty’s lot, they try to remove him from the project since he isn’t “qualified. But Pretty stands up for him again, calling them out for their “snobbery” and insisting that Brown be given credit for discovery of the treasure.

Despite these efforts, the constant battle with the museum discourages Brown. However, his wife, May, reminds him that he never dug for the money or the glory; he always did it because he was good at it, and because he believed that learning about the past would teach future generations where they came from. This reminder sticks with him. Later on, when Pretty expresses her fear of dying, Brown tells her that their excavation proves that even in death, some part of us lives on to help teach those who come after—that a grave isn’t death but rather “life revealed.”

When Robert, Pretty’s son, learns that his mother’s “heartburn” is actually a fatal heart condition, he tells Brown that he feels like a failure for not being able to help her. But Brown tells him that it isn’t his fault, because some things are just beyond our control. He also encourages Robert to be strong for his mother in the days to come.

Spiritual Elements

A woman references Mark 12, where Jesus tells his disciples, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” She also wears a coin from that time period as a necklace, stating that she wears it for luck because of that passage. Someone else talks about Noah’s Ark.

Someone says that a partially eclipsed moon makes it seem as if “the gods are angry.” Mrs. Pretty mentions a local superstition that says if girls lie down on the mounds, they’ll become fertile. She also makes a few references to spiritualism, such as asking Brown if he saw any spirits when he nearly died.

Someone asks, “How the devil are you?”

Sexual Content

It is strongly implied throughout the film that a married man is actually gay (and this culminates when he goes into an inn room with another man). In addition, his wife falls in love with another man and nearly kisses him. She ends things with her husband before pursuing her other interest further, but they are still technically married when both go off with other men at the end.

A couple has sex, and we see a lot of skin (though nothing critical is shown). Several couples kiss throughout the movie. A couple of women also sit in men’s laps and embrace them.

A woman takes a bath (though, again, we don’t see anything critical). Later she removes her robe, and we see her bare back. A shirtless man digs a hole. A woman wears several midriff-baring tops.

Violent Content

Throughout the film, we see impending signs of war—pubs boarding up their windows, soldiers riding buses and sandbags being stacked against national monuments to protect them. And when it is announced that England is officially at war with Germany, many people are frightened.

One of the burial mounds collapses on top of Mr. Brown, and he nearly dies from suffocation. There are several tense moments as people dig him out of the dirt, remove it from his mouth and nostrils and perform CPR.

A plane crashes into a river, killing the pilot. We hear that a woman’s father drowned. Mrs. Pretty gets upset when her cousin joins the Royal Air Force, since she believes it’s a sure way for him to die. A little boy pretends to fire toy guns.

A woman distracts a young boy so he won’t see a dead body.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear three uses of “h—” and two uses of “d–n.” God’s name is misused seven times (twice as “Lord”), and Christ’s name is misused twice as well. Someone says, “Ye gods!” Another person says, “Good heavens!” Basil also exclaims “blast” several times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Characters smoke pipes and cigarettes. People drink at a pub. Sherry is served at a party. Someone says that a man is a heavy drinker.

Other Negative Elements

The people who work for the British and Ipswich museums are rude and condescending to Mr. Brown and Mrs. Pretty. They threaten Brown’s job, challenge Pretty’s claim to the treasure and later pressure her to donate it after an inquest declares her to be the true owner.

One of their archaeologists also insults a young woman, saying that he hired her to help on the dig not because of her expertise (as she previously believed) but because of her small size (since the man in question was overweight and could potentially damage the excavation site if he stood in it).

Children throw balls at a man’s vehicle as he drives through London making announcements about the war on a loudspeaker. A man gets cross with his wife after she failed to wake him up, making him appear to be late to work.

Although the Sutton Hoo treasure has been on display at the British museum since the end of World War II, it didn’t give credit to the man responsible for the dig, Basil Brown, until quite recently.

In spite of Mrs. Pretty’s constant adulations of Mr. Brown’s work, the museum didn’t want to recognize an amateur. They ignored the fact that he correctly identified the treasure as being from the Anglo-Saxon period—which largely contributed to the world’s knowledge of that historical time period. They couldn’t have cared less that he nearly died during the excavation when one of the walls caved in. And, when it was time to pack up and go home, it didn’t matter that he was the one who ensured the site was properly preserved so that future archaeologists could revisit and excavate further.

None of that mattered because when it was all said and done, Basil Brown was still self-taught and didn’t have a professional degree.

However, as evidenced by Brown’s response, it didn’t have to matter. Brown never dug because he wanted fame and riches. He dug because he wanted to preserve history. He wanted others to be able to learn from the past before it disappeared from the earth.

But The Dig has a few more controversies buried within than who discovered the treasure at the center of the story. Two people who help on the excavation have an affair because it becomes apparent that the woman’s husband is interested in men, and we do see some skin when they connect. Language, while infrequent and mild, is still present at times. And there are some intense moments both during the cave-in that nearly kills Brown and later on when a Royal Air Force pilot is killed in a plane crash.

As this film shows us, the British Museum has apparently learned a bit about preserving history, since Basil Brown’s name now appears next to Edith Pretty’s for the discovery of the Sutton Hoo treasure. But viewers may have to dig through some tough content to learn the same historical lesson.

Emily Tsiao

Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.

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Atlas review: jennifer lopez’s new netflix movie gets science fiction totally wrong.

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Best Sci-Fi Movies On Netflix

Who voices smith in netflix's atlas, atlas ending & ai twist explained.

Atlas' VFX & Jennifer Lopez's committed performance are highlights.
Atlas has a weak script & tone-deaf message about AI.
There is a lack of curiosity that affects characters & story quality.

When I try to describe Atlas , the one word that keeps coming to mind is perfunctory. It's not a word I typically use to talk about a movie, but it popped into my head relatively early in the runtime, and I've been unable to shake it. So, I'll have to try and unpack its persistence instead.

Atlas is a 2024 Netflix original movie starring Jennifer Lopez as Atlas Shepherd. Atlas, a data analyst who doesn't trust AI, who sets out to recover a rogue robot. But when things don't go according to plan, she is forced to trust AI in order to save humanity.

Pretty strong VFX work holds it all together
Jennifer Lopez is game
Superficial, soulless approach to sci-fi
Script struggles to stay ahead of the audience
Tone deaf message on AI

Merriam-Webster ascribes two definitions to perfunctory, though " lacking in interest or enthusiasm " isn't quite what I mean. That would seem to describe the intentions behind the film as much as the film itself, and my reaction was to the end result, not the whole enterprise. The other definition, " characterized by routine or superficiality: mechanical, " gets me closer. Atlas is like an artificial sci-fi movie that walks and talks like the real thing, but just isn't .

Atlas' Flaws Don't Seem Fatal At First Glance

You have to dig a little deeper.

Set in a technologically advanced future, Atlas is named for its protagonist, Atlas Shepherd ( Jennifer Lopez ), who was just a girl when Harlan (Simu Liu) , one of her genius mother's (Lana Parrilla) artificially intelligent robots, went rogue. Harlan not only broke free of his programming, but hacked into AI programs worldwide and overrode the protocols that kept humans unharmed. Millions died, Atlas' mother first among them. When humanity started to win the war, however, the world's first AI terrorist fled into outer space.

Almost 30 years later, Atlas has grown into a brilliant but volatile analyst determined to find Harlan. When a lead finally reveals his hideout, she bullies her way onto the mission to recover him, led by Colonel Elias Banks (Sterling K. Brown), whose views on AI are markedly different. He and his platoon have embraced her mother's neural link tech and each sync with an AI-powered mecha suit. The resulting union, the thinking goes, makes them superior to their adversary. Choosing whether to trust her suit's program, Smith (Gregory James Cohan), could determine whether Atlas lives or dies.

The irony of reviewing a film about AI by saying it failed my Turing test isn't lost on me, but that is essentially what happened. Atlas is, by and large, a serviceable sci-fi action movie . It has some visible script issues, in particular an inability to stay ahead of the audience, and Liu's mastervillain is terribly bland. But the cohesive VFX brings this futuristic world and its spectacle-heavy combat to life, and Lopez came ready to anchor this two-hander-with-a-robot.

In another world, all it's really guilty of is being just okay . But I felt completely inactivated by this movie . I connected to no one, cared about nothing. The emotional tenor of scenes rose and fell without moving me in the slightest.

Optimistic and agnostic views on AI are usually predicated on engaging with its world-destroying potential as a hypothetical; that they can conceivably win out when that's a demonstrable reality is quite a position to take.

At first, I struggled to understand why. The screenplay deploys a few different techniques to shape our relationships to certain characters, and while it's easy to see through to the dramatic purpose of specific scenes, they were still executed well enough to work. Most roles seemed a bit thankless, but I (for the most part) wasn't bumping the performances. I couldn't even fall back on the style-over-substance cliché, because that would've at least left me with something to hold onto.

Atlas Is Missing The One Thing Every Sci-fi Movie Needs

And nothing can really compensate for it.

Once I zeroed in on the pacing, I understood. Atlas is definitely story-driven, and moves through scenes like it's eager to get to the next chapter. The most interesting thing about any given moment is what is happening, sometimes because of what that reveals about Atlas. That obviously puts a lot of pressure on the plot to be interesting, but it also betrays the movie's complete lack of curiosity — the " superficiality " part of being perfunctory.

There is a wealth of potential beneath the veneer of this story that the filmmakers simply don't care to explore.

Take Lopez's introduction: Atlas is reluctantly woken by a smart home-style robot, which almost immediately asks her if she'd like to resume their chess game, since she fell asleep while playing. Despite being groggy, and concentrating on multiple video feeds at once, she occasionally speaks chess moves aloud until, just as she's walking out the door, she delivers the winning blow. It showcases her intelligence, her competitiveness, her ability to multitask. A save-the-cat moment, if we're supposed to find our protagonist impressive instead of endearing.

What it doesn't show is why Atlas, who grew up surrounded by robots until one murdered her mother, is comfortable with this level of technology at all. Has she overcome her trauma? No. In fact, her character arc is predicated on her inability to trust AI. So what does this say about her? Does she enjoy having dominion over tech in her own home? Did her childhood leave her better at connecting with machines than people, even if she loathes them?

The movie doesn't think to ask, and doesn't want us to, either. The line distinguishing the AI Atlas fears and the programs she doesn't think twice about is never defined . The whole world is this dynamic on hyperdrive: Atlas opens with newsreel footage of Harlan's reign of terror, which includes a hacked factory arm wheeling around to crush unsuspecting workers. Not only did mechanization progress after that, but humanity went back to AI, and even experimented with connecting their brains to it.

So, in this future, we build Skynet -lite and millions die. Then, when we crawl back from the brink, we double down . I'm not highlighting this simply to call it out as implausible — it actually isn't hard for me to envision a world of people so dependent on technology that they can't give it up, even after mass death. But the idea that we're just supposed to take it all for granted is maddening. There is a wealth of potential beneath the veneer of this story that the filmmakers simply don't care to explore.

Atlas (2024)

Atlas' message on ai borders on a silicon valley psyop, but, thankfully, the movie's bark is worse than its bite.

Curiosity is practically the essence of science fiction; without it, Atlas has no soul . And, as the above scene illustrates, the characters suffer the same fate. They are all reduced to a list of facts about themselves that they accept with no sign of struggle or capacity for change. Atlas at least gets to develop her level of trust in AI, but from the perspective of drama, it may as well be an on/off switch that affects little else about who she is. No wonder I found her journey so uninvolving.

Netflix's library contains an impressive number of science fiction movies. Here is a list of the ten best films to stream right now.

At its least offensive, Atlas scratches an itch, perfunctorily. However, I could read it in terms of our current moment and come up with something much worse. The film responds to growing anxieties around artificial intelligence by admitting, yes, it could evolve to try and wipe us out. But it's also a tool, and we should still put it everywhere, even in our brains. If Atlas can learn to trust it after everything she went through, then you, humble viewers, should have no problem doing the same.

That is, when you boil it down, what this movie has to say on the topic of AI. It breezes right past saying the quiet part out loud to having no awareness of a need to modulate volume at all. Optimistic and agnostic views on AI are usually predicated on engaging with its world-destroying potential as a hypothetical; that they can conceivably win out when that's a demonstrable reality is quite a position to take. But don't be too concerned. Worrying about Atlas ' message would require a lot more faith in it as a delivery system than is warranted.

Atlas is available to stream on Netflix May 24. The film is 118 minutes long and rated PG-13 for strong sci-fi violence, action, bloody images and strong language.

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Film Review: The Dig (2021)
The Dig Movie Review (2021): A Film That's Poignant and Engaging
Review: “The Dig” (2021)
The Dig movie review : Netflix's The Dig is a film to treasure
‘The Dig’ Review: The Astounding True Story About a Man Who Really
Netflix's The Dig review: is the period drama worth your time?

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The Dig movie review & film summary (2021)
The Dig. Sheila O'Malley January 29, 2021. Tweet. Now streaming on: Powered by JustWatch. In May 1939, as Europe lurched towards war, amateur excavator/archaeologist Basil Brown, hired to dig up the huge mounds on Edith Pretty's property in Suffolk, struck gold (literally). First, he came across the skeleton of an 88-foot ship dating to the ...
The Dig (2021)
Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/05/24 Full Review Lukas K There is not a thing wrong with the movie. The acting, pacing and camera is impeccable. The acting, pacing and camera is ...
'The Dig' Review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes on a Treasure Hunt
To its credit, this consistently interesting and at times engrossing picture declines to strike any of its notes with a hammer. Trading on the great British art of understatement, it's ...
The Dig (2021 film)
The Dig is a 2021 British drama film directed by Simon Stone, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, which reimagines the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England.It stars Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, and Monica Dolan.. It had a limited release on 14 January 2021, followed by streaming ...
The Dig
Poetic, wistful and elevated with exquisite imagery, The Dig romanticises the unearthing of history. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 11, 2023. M.N. Miller Ready Steady Cut. It's really ...
The Dig (2021)
The Dig: Directed by Simon Stone. With Ralph Fiennes, Stephen Worrall, Danny Webb, Carey Mulligan. An archaeologist embarks on the historically important excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938.
The Dig (2021)
4/10. Out of focus and boring. jacoal 1 February 2021. This movie started out well enough, with amazing performances by Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, but unfortunately it gets bogged down by the introduction of various characters and unnecessary and excessive focus on their relationships.
'The Dig' Review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes ...
Editor: Jon Harris. Music: Stefan Gregory. With: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, Monica Dolan, Eamon Farren, Paul Ready Peter ...
'The Dig' review: Fiennes and Mulligan in Netflix romance
Review: 'The Dig' unearths rich emotions in an England on the brink of war. Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan in the movie "The Dig." (Larry Horricks / Netflix) By Kevin Crust Planning Editor .
The Dig review: Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan out-Brit themselves in
A Haunting in Venice review: Kenneth Branagh scares up his best Poirot film yet Carey Mulligan unearths archaeological drama in The Dig trailer Joy Ride review: Sex, drugs, and a very raunchy road ...
The Dig Movie Review
Positive Messages. The movie's dominant theme is about legacy in time. Positive Role Models. Basil Brown is a working-class man who can't affor. Violence & Scariness. Two intensely perilous moments: A character is bur. Sex, Romance & Nudity. Breasts and other body parts are revealed when a w. Language Not present.
The Dig Review
The Dig Review. Suffolk, 1938. Widowed Lady Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires unorthodox digger Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to investigate the mounds in the grounds of her estate. When Brown ...
The Dig
The Dig - Metacritic. Summary As WWII looms, a wealthy widow (Carey Mulligan) hires an amateur archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain's past resonate in the face of its uncertain future‎. [Netflix]
The Dig
The Dig - Movie Review Details By Frank Wilkins 05 February 2021 In the British period drama, The Dig, director Simon Stone (The Daughter) uses a real life historic archaeological dig to explore themes of time, mortality, our connection to the past, and the impact ...
'The Dig' Excavates the British Stiff-Upper-Lip Costume Drama
January 28, 2021. Carey Mulligan and Rafe Fiennes in 'The Dig.'. Larry Horricks/Netflix. A quick methadone hit for anyone still experiencing Merchant-Ivory withdrawal symptoms, The Dig (streaming ...
The Dig (2021) Movie Review
All, in varying juicy degrees, exhibit an emotional undercurrent befitting the film's subtle dramatic tension. Those seeking more insight into those undercurrents will come away sorely disappointed, however, as the well-tempered nature of the film keeps it mild and tasteful. Though it's not as compelling as it could have been, The Dig is ...
'The Dig' review: Carey Mulligan and Ralph Finennes star in a poetic
"The Dig" is about the yearning, so human and, yes, so elusive and so futile, to fix the past so that it can be preserved. Of course, it can't, in any literal sense.
'The Dig' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?
I hereby declare Netflix's The Dig to be a significant contender for The Year's Most British Movie. It's a WWII-period BOATS (Based On A True Story) film featuring some, if not all, of the ...
The Dig Movie Review (2021): A Film That's Poignant and Engaging
By Jillian Oliver on Sunday, February 14, 2021. The Dig (2021) slips us inside the archaeologist's mind and elegantly converges past and present. Graceful imagery of the English countryside adorns the film; a romance grows while another is severed before it sprouts, and archaeology becomes about more than artifacts in and of themselves.
'The Dig' (2021) Review: a charming history lesson
The Dig is a delightful historical drama based on the true story of the 1939 excavation of an Anglo-Saxon ship. With excellent performances, The Dig weaves a beautiful story about how our histories can inform our present and future.Ralph Fiennes is as pleasant to watch as ever in The Dig, as Basil Brown, an excavator from the Ipswich Museum.He's helping a woman named Mrs. Pretty (Carey ...
The Dig (2021)
by Martin Towers January 30, 20218:17 pm. The Dig (2021) - Movie Review. ¡En español! I did not expect to get so into The Dig. It looked like it was going to be a chiefly academic recap of a true story -that of the Sutton Hoo finding, as set up in the literal second scene of the film: Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a rich widow and mother ...
Review
Your star rating: Steve. 2022-11-04. 0. The Dig re-imagines the events around a discovery so fabulous it needs no re-imagining - the excavation of the Sutton Hoo hoard. First unearthed in the 1930s, and originally thought to be Viking, the hoard turned out to be much older, Anglo Saxon, and eventually yielded up remarkable treasures made of ...
The Dig
The Dig has a few more controversies buried within than who discovered the treasure at the center of the story. ... Movie Review. The Sutton Hoo Treasure was discovered in 1939 in Suffolk, England. The owner of the land where it was found, Edith Pretty, had long been interested in excavating what she believed to be burial mounds on the lot. ...
Transparency and honesty with AI. AI, AI, Oh... No? (Video 2024)
Transparency and honesty with AI. AI, AI, Oh... No?: Directed by Loren Weisman. With Carlton Cat. Transparency and honesty with AI. AI, AI, Oh... No? With AI being used more and more to create everything from online content to books, courses, services, responses, pictures, videos and bios for many peoples marketing and advertising, lines seem to be blurred on what was created and by who.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Persian: دانه‌ی انجیر معابد) is a 2024 drama film written and directed by Mohammad Rasoulof.The story centers on Iman, an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, who grapples with mistrust and paranoia as nationwide political protests intensify and his gun mysteriously disappears.. The film premiered on 24 May 2024 at the 77th ...
Atlas Review: Jennifer Lopez's New Netflix Movie Gets Science Fiction
The irony of reviewing a film about AI by saying it failed my Turing test isn't lost on me, but that is essentially what happened. Atlas is, by and large, a serviceable sci-fi action movie.It has some visible script issues, in particular an inability to stay ahead of the audience, and Liu's mastervillain is terribly bland.

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Reviewed online, Barbentane, France, Jan. 13, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 112 MIN.

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