Delayed Reaction: The Dig

Premise: Just before WWII, a British woman hires an archeologist to excavate a mound on her property that turns out to be a significant historical site.

 

This movie falls under a category of movies that I need a pithy name for: movies that aren't as interesting as the Wikipedia page of the actual events. And even that description feels a little off. The Sutton Hoo site is pretty remarkable. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that this woman just had all these mounds in her back yard and decided to have someone dig it up for artifacts. The only time something remotely close to that happens in America is when a house gets haunted for being built on top of an Indian Burial ground. This whole thing seems crazy to me. "Yep. Just set up the playground next to the mound over there. It probably just has Viking artifacts in it." There's a great Wikipedia page on Sutton Hoo with charts and a full history. You know I had it pulled up while I was watching the movie, maybe tuning out of the movie more than I should've.

 

At the end of the day, this is a movie about a slow, methodic dig. It's not very interesting on its own, so they have to add some flavor*. I doubt the actual dig was as interesting as the movie makes it. The health problems of Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), who owns the land probably weren't that sever at that point. I assume there was a real Peggy Piggott (Lily James) but I doubt her involvement was quite as filled with sexism, romance, and closeted husbands coming to a head at that moment. I do sort of believe Basil Brown's (Ralph Fiennes) involvement was a lot like that: getting edged out by the British Museum and people with PHDs. The movie does everything it can to stay interesting, but at the end of the day, it's still a movie about a dig.

 

*They, in this case means both the filmmakers and the author of the novel this is based on.

 

I didn't watch the movie because I was enticed by the premise though. I didn't even read the Netflix blurb about it before I watched it. I just knew it had Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, and Lily James in it. And hey, Fiennes is great and understated in this role. I like seeing him play a character who gets a little dirty. Carey Mulligan is good, even though it's pretty clear she's meant to play someone a bit older than she is. It's not Lily James' best role ever, but she shows up right when the movie needs a little more going on. The movie also looks pretty good too. It manages to capture how rainy England can be without coating the country in damp fog the whole time. The English countryside looks nice most of the time. A pretty movie with good actors that's a little dull in places is good in my book. Besides, it led me to a good Wikipedia read.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend