In 1938, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, Landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires self-taught archeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate large burial mounds on her rural estate. 

The Dig is a rather superb film with two genuinely interesting plot lines. 

The first is a race against time that is placed straight in front of us. Edith appears to be unwell and wants to understand what could be held within the mounds on her estate before she dies. World War II is rapidly approaching and any work focused on archeological research will rapidly take second fiddle to the importance of fighting a war. And the rather more official arbiters of archeological digs from various museums want to take over from a man they deem unworthy of such a task the second they get a sniff that there might be something important there. 

The second plot line however is the one between the lines that talks about people’s attitudes to life and death. The characters are digging up what appears to be a burial chamber which gives them insights into how people lived their lives and commemorated their deaths. This is all happening as Edith has to consider her untimely death and what that will mean for her son and the finds made on her land. But ultimately it is a message that all human life is momentary and we have to embrace life. Basil and Edith are doing this by digging and finding a reminder of people living before us. 

Loss, legacy and life all wrapped up in the simple story of some people digging up a mound. 

This fascinating film, found on Netflix, is brought to us by Australian playwrite and director Simon Stone who delivers occasional moments that are Terrance Malick like as we see images overlapped by conversations from the characters. Based on a true story, the film is adapted from an historical novel by John Preston with a screenplay by Moira Buffini. It features a wonderful score from Stefan Gregory that really underlines the sometimes somber and other times uplifting moments and some lovely performances from its cast. 

The backbone of which of course are Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes’ performances which are both genuinely superb from actors who seem to always be able to deliver something hugely interesting. 

I highly recommend this one.