When their warrior king died, the Anglo-Saxons dragged his oaken longboat some distance onto dry land, entombed him alongside his treasure in the belly of the boat and buried the vessel under an earthen mound. A thousand years later with the outbreak of World War II only weeks away, that burial ship was discovered on a Suffolk estate at Sutton Hoo. The fictionalized version of the discovery by novelist John Preston has been transformed into a Netflix film, The Dig.
The Dig stars Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown, the sad-faced man primarily responsible for locating the burial ship. Stooped and worn and wearing shabby clothes, Basil is trudging purposefully along the final miles of his career as an “excavator.” Professional archeologists look down on him as hired help, but the owner of an estate dotted with ancient mounds, Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), chose him and is determined to maintain his role in the dig. The widowed landlady, we soon suspect, may be physically weak but possesses a strong will.
When Basil first knocks on the door of her baronial manor, the butler makes him wait outside. The excavator has labored long within Britain’s class system and bears no grudges. He must enter the manor through the side door, and as Edith dines alone upstairs, he is downstairs eating supper with the servants. He bridles only at the arrogant disregard shown him by the academic archeologists who arrive on the scene to take charge and credit. He knows he has earned a place alongside them, despite never having gone up to Oxford or Cambridge.
Directed by Australian film and theater director Simon Stone, The Dig’s supporting cast is uniformly excellent, including Edith’s eager young son Robert (Archie Barnes) and Peggy (“Downton Abbey’s Lily James), an archeologist’s wife who finds her new marriage isn’t as anticipated.
With a visual sensibility that recalls David Lean, in many scenes the characters are small figures moving against the backdrop of immense horizons. The editing and use of space sometimes suggest that Stone shot the film with physical distance in mind (it was completed before COVID). Early on, the principals seldom share the screen and when they do, they are often outdoors and usually standing apart. Several scenes play as offscreen voices narrate, enhancing the simultaneous unfolding of plot lines.
The Dig’s period detailing is accurate down to the George VI postage stamps and the unearthing of Basil’s discovery is observant and respectful of archeological practice, showing the careful spading and hoeing and suggesting the enormous patience required of participants. Digging is physical work involving keen eyes and good judgement as the past is harvested from the soil. The Dig’s most lasting impressions come from Fiennes who plays Basil as a plainspoken man who knows his own mind, endowing him with the right balance of reserve, dignity and determination.
