If you studied archaeology or enjoyed stories about discovering long lost artefacts and unearthing secrets that have been hidden under the ground, then the new British period drama The Dig might actually be worth your time. The Dig is based on the 2007 novel of the same name by John Preston, and is the second directorial effort by Australian filmmaker Simon Stone. The film reimagines the events of how an archaeologist embarks on the historically significant excavation of Sutton Hoo in the late 1930s, the grave of an Anglo-Saxon king. While at distance, the film may look beautiful and features a parade of well-known performers such as Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Lily James, the film somewhat suffers from the lack of focus and good execution.
Like the title suggests, most of the film is pretty much about digging and searching. It opens with local self-taught archaeologist-excavator Basil Brown (Fiennes), being called to the stately Suffolk home of Mrs Edith Pretty (Mulligan), a fairly wealthy widow who has some large, mysterious mounds on her property, which she wants him to dig up before World War II starts. Soon enough, Brown uncovers something far grander than anyone could have imagined -- an ancient treasure from the Anglo-Saxon period, and proof that the people who inhabited this land in ancient times were more than mere Vikings. And these are the two main characters that we spend the most time with during the first 40 minutes of the movie. We get to see two individuals meet and form a kind of an odd friendship but sharing the same goal. As the story progresses and the dig becomes more intriguing, new characters arrive, such as the married archaeologist couple Stuart and Peggy Piggott (played by Ben Chaplin and Lily James) who join the excavation. Another archaeologist Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) declares the site to be of national importance, and takes over the dig by order of the Office of Works.
The visuals of The Dig are pretty and serene, which suits well with its slow, non-linear visual storytelling style. The countryside that Mrs Pretty owns is sweeping and green and the shots of surrounding mountains provide a bit of mystique. It's quite obvious that the filmmaker attempts to experiment with the drama and main storyline. The way the story is slowly told with different scenes put together feels like it jumps around, or there are scenes that overlap. We have audio from one scene but visuals from another, or hear narration that's not really a narration, but actually is audio from a different scene. And the movie keeps repeating these techniques all the way through. And while these are meant to add artistic value to the film, instead I found the experiments unnecessary, confusing and lacking in focus.
Fiennes is great as Mr Brown, a talented man who has spent his whole life being underestimated. He's definitely the one who carries the movie. On the other hand, Mulligan, who may do an OK job here from the beginning until the end, didn't give me a real solid chance to get to know more on her character development, or understand her struggle. Instead, her character spends most of the film in a state of dread and worry about nothing, which becomes repetitive quite quickly. The intrigue that I enjoyed from the first 40 minutes of the film somehow disappeared as soon as these new characters came in. Suddenly the story completely changed and what happens between Basil Brown and Mrs Pretty are no longer the main focus, and our original story about digging and searching for artefacts is almost placed on the backburner. I got the sense that the filmmaker didn't feel that the archaeological discoveries were enough of a draw to hold people's attention. So they had to just add the drama and complicated relationships into play, which is unfortunate. These characters and their addition to the story may be true to the history, but for the narrative that's playing out, they seemed like a bit of a distraction.
The Dig isn't a bad film by any means. It tells an exciting story that will inspire your inner treasure hunter. However, the cinematic presentation of that story is at times distracting and does a disservice to this important archaeological discovery. It just doesn't dig deep enough to pass the surface level.
Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown in The Dig. Netfix Thailand
