Digging deep

Nonika Singh

Unsung/real heroes have been a theme of many a film. Only The Dig, streaming on Netflix, is not limited to the talent of a self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown whose rightful pace in British history can’t be denied. It is as much about relationships, the humanity of some, as the arrogance of a few.

Film: The Dig  

Director: Simon Stone

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Cast: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes and Monica Dolan

Rating: ***

While telling us the story of Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) and Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), who employs him to excavate burial mounds in her property in Suffolk, England, a softness suffuses the narrative. The ambience is befitting of the era to which the film belongs. Expectedly, the pace is not rushed. Yet there is a momentum just like the wheels of the bicycle on which Brown pedals. One moment Brown is almost buried under the mound, yet another there is hint of romance and finally he finds reason to shout Eureka.

The spectre of the Second World War is hovering over Britain and the cloud is cast over the digging too. But the film refuses to get trapped into the politics of war even though one of its characters Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn), depicted as cousin of Edith, is about to join the RAF. Yes, the manoeuvrings behind the archaeological finds is visible and could be exaggerated too. Nevertheless, Ken Stott as Charles Phillips of the British Museum appears born to the part. The moment he arrives on the scene after Brown has discovered a stunning remnant of Anglo-Saxon era, no less than a ship with a burial chamber, the chip on his shoulder is evident in his body language. His disdain both for the excavator and the fair sex lends yet another dimension to the film, which anyway is not restricted to just the discovery that changed the historical perspective on Dark Ages.

Why past and hence archaeology is significant comes through in the lines uttered by Brown’s wife (Monica Dolan). She may not be central to the narrative but is a key element as are others. Like the attractive archaeologist, Peggy Piggott (Lily James), who smarts under the assumption that she may have been hired precisely for her light weight. If you think in the cut and dried subject of archaeology, recounting one of the greatest archaeological finds, feelings have no place, you couldn’t be more wrong. Edith’s insistence that Brown must get credit for his work is as touching as his bonding with her young son Robert Pretty (a natural Archie Barnes). Clearly, The Dig not just digs into the past. With remarkable contribution of its lead actors, brilliant cinematography, it weaves a human matrix. Just as the past is surreal so are many moments here, especially when the son takes his mother on an imaginary journey into the stars.

Based on the 2007 novel by John Preston, reimagining the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, experts may have taken issues with the veracity of certain facts. But none can dispute its cinematic quality which makes it a rare treasure and worth digging into, even if you have little interest in archaeology.