The Dig is a historical drama, based on a true story and set in Suffolk England in the late 1930’s, just prior to the start of World War 2. I have always been leery of historical movies, but I have become more open to the genre by the success of movies such as Mary Queen of Scots and The Favorite.
Our main characters include Edith Pretty a wealthy widow who hires Basil Brown to explore large protruding mounds of earth on her estate. Edith, who was denied an advanced education by her father, has studied the land and it’s history and believes the mounds are potential burial grounds of Vikings. Basil is not an archeologist, but a self-described excavator, taught by his father. It seems the area is a hotbed of hidden archeological treasures, as Basil is currently working on a dig of a Roman villa sponsored by the Ipswich Museum. There is no love lost between Basil and the museum, who sees Basil as an uneducated glorified digger, so when Edith offers a salary slightly more than Ipswich, and given carte blanche of the dig, he is all in. He however, does differ with Edith’s assertion that the mounds are dated to the Vikings, Basil believes the mounds could be Anglo-Saxon, much older than the Viking era.
Basil is consumed by the dig, so focused that he doesn’t even open the letters his wife sends him daily. Childless, Basil forges a friendship with Edith’s young son Robert, who runs across the fields of the estate wearing a cape ala “Flash Gordon” and dreams of becoming an explorer himself, but well aware of his mother’s chronic illness.
The English weather is a constant, rain turning the mounds to slushy mud, encumbering and delaying the dig’s progress. One scene shows the perils of the dig, when the dirt walls collapse on Basil, and a desperate Edith claws away the dirt from Basil, yelling for help from the estate workers. Basil survives thanks to Edith’s success in resuscitation, and their platonic bond grows deeper. After this incident, she asks Basil “what did you see” as he bordered death. He replies, nothing, which is heartbreaking to her, as she has just received news that her heart condition is untreatable and fatal. With this diagnosis, she is even more determined to uncover whatever is under the mounds.
Soon treasures are unearthed, and news spreads to the Ipswich and British Museum. The thought of a common digger being in charge of a potential archeological find of the century causes the arrival of archeologist snob Charles Philip to declare ownership of the dig in the name of England. Edith does want the find to be housed in a museum, and capitulates to passing the excavation to the British Museum, but rules that Basil must remain on the dig and he should receive credit for the discovery. Philip agrees, but soon relegates Basil to moving wheel barrels of dirt, deeming him too physically heavy to be digging on such a delicate site.
As the dig expands, so does the cast which includes a loveless marriage, adultery, hints of a homosexual relationship and a looming war. I don’t think you could have a historical British movie, without delving into the class system, and the limitations of the working man being pitted against the hierarchy and aristocracy of the time.
The Dig is beautifully filmed, the casting of Ralph Fiennes as Basil and Carey Muligan as Edith is perfection.
If you are like me, as the end credits scroll you will be Googling what happened next, what of Edith, Basil and Robert, where are the unearthed treasures?
The Dig, well worth my rating of B plus!!
Now for my beverage of choice, while viewing this movie. There is a scene where the expanded dig crew is drinking in a pub, beer of course, but I was surprised it was light colored beer, not a dark ale like Guinness. Apparently due to the looming war, barley and sugar were banned from being imported for brewing, and strong beer was heavily taxed. However, not so heavily taxed was lighter, weaker beer, thus most switched to the cheaper beer.
So, grab a pale ale or beer, use a glass as our archeologist did, and enjoy The Dig.
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