The Dig

'The Dig' is a beautifully photographed period film (circa 1939, Suffolk, Great Britain) that seemed a lock to garner first Oscars for Ralph Fiennes (*overdue) and Cinematographer Mike Eley. Therefore, I'm instituting the 1st Annual "Oscar Snub Award" to the film most undeservedly left out of nominations. This year it was a no brainer - 'The Dig' wins and it wasn't close. So on with my original review B. S. ("Before Snub")...

Metaphors supporting Themes abound in 'The Dig' - "life is fleeting", "the search for meaning in our lives", "our relevance in History", and "is this all there is". Classic themes for dramas that are the eternal questions within our lives. The film intertwines those themes within the central characters, each conducting their own search for answers.

The framework of the story occurs on the eve of WWII for Great Britain. The impending gravity of such hovers over the film, intensifying the characters' emotions and urgency in searching for answers to such questions - the telescope and magnifying glass used within the story serve as metaphors to that end. Collapsing walls of the dig site that almost takes Basil Brown's life illustrate the tenuous fragility of life which could end in a moment of randomness. There are many more such examples in 'The Dig'.

Such poetic filmmaking takes painstaking attention to detail in production to pull off at the level achieved in this film. Utilizing the beautiful cinematography of Mike Eley and deft touch of Film Editor Jon Harris, Director Simon Stone succeeds in elevating the The Dig to an elite level of film art.

This is without question the Best Picture of the Year, and I am thankful this beautiful film came in at the last possible minute to save an otherwise (and understandable) blah year in the film industry.

Director Simon Stone's Oscar nomination for both Director and Best Picture is a virtual certainty.

Ralph Fiennes (Basil Brown) never misses (except taking home an Oscar), but I predict he will FINALLY* be recognized by Academy members en masse for his best of the year acting in this film, along with Mike Eley for Cinematography.

Carey Mulligan (Edith Pretty) should be nominated except she has two Oscar worthy films, both with a deserved good chance to take home an Oscar. Her spotlight lead part in 'A Promising Young Woman' has much more Oscar potential which will negate her role in The Dig - Mulligan should get Actress of the Year for putting forth two such great performances in one year!

At the end of the night (Oscar night), 'The Dig' could sweep up wins in the aforementioned major Oscar categories for 2020 - I certainly wouldn't bet against it happening (EDIT: Boy was I wrong 😑), and In terms of total Oscar nominations, this film sets up as the front contender for 2020. Then again, it could be a dodgy awards year - competition of last minute entries (is it going to get to the point where releases occur the day before the voting deadline?), and above-the-norm "agendas" abound in the industry these days [EDIT: Boy, was I correct about this (I am sorry to say)].

While the ensemble cast is highly competent, I don't see a particular supporting role having enough "spotlight momentum" to break-out and win an Oscar, although Lily James (Peggy Piggott) is a long-shot.

If there was one weak point in the film, it would be the digression to the character Peggy that seems to be thinly integrated into the film. This hole in the film likely comes from Editing decisions, and will probably cost Lily James, Jon Harris (Editing), and Stone and co-writer Moira Buffini (Adapted Screenplay) Oscar nominations.

The film runs under 2 hours, and it would have only required adding another 5-10 minutes to fully integrate Peggy into the story - Peggy is at a crossroads in her young life and her marriage to a man not interested in women forecasts a gloomy future - She gets sage advice from Edith Pretty (Mulligan) on seizing the day (and not to make the same mistakes she made).

My advice to Stone is "Don't start something without completing it". My guess is there is extra footage on Peggy and perhaps a Director's-Cut extended version will be released at some point completing Peggy's story - I'd like to see that.

👍👍 to all involved in 'The Dig' - the film is a treat for the eyes - the acting superior - production execution excellent - it is 2020's Best Picture by classic film making standards, despite being the biggest Oscar snub of the 2021 Academy Awards.

Here's hoping "agendas" and politics are left out of recognizing the best in film arts. (EDIT: Clearly agendas were NOT left out based on nominations MIA🙁)

* Ralph Fiennes sits atop my IMDb list of 'Best Actors Without An Oscar' (EDIT: and will continue to be atop the list for at least one more year - Note: At least Glen Close has a shot at graduating off my no-Oscar list 🤞)

"The Dig" (2021 release from the UK; 112 min.) reminds us at the very beginning that this is "Based On a True Story". We then go to "Suffolk, England, 1939" as Basil Brown arrives at the house of Edith Pretty. Turns out Mrs. Pretty has hired Mr. Brown to do some archeological work on her estate. Her young son excitedly asks Mr. Brown "Are you going to dig upo the mountain?". Mr. Brown, taking room and pension at Mrs. Ptretty's house, starts to dig and soon is working his way towards some intriguing finds... At this point we are 15 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is directed by little known Australian director Simon Stone ("The Daughter)". Here he brings us a historical drama about what later became known as the Sutton Hoo treasure, one of the biggest archeological finds in British history. The setting of 1939 is pivotal in several ways: of course the threat of WWII is in the air, but even more important, the way of life in those days was just entirely different, and being in a remote English area (near Ipswich) only reinfornces that. So be prepated for a slow moving film, I didn't mind it one bit. Even more critical for the movie is Carey Mulligan's exquisite lead performance. Playing a person who is more than 20 years her senior in real life (Carey is 35, Mrs, Pretty was in her mid-50s in 1939), she does so with grace and style and presence. The role couldn't be more different from what Carey did in the recently released "Promising Young Woman", which was in my top 3 of the bests films of 2020. Ralph Fiennes is equally great as the excavator Mr. Brown. Last but not least there is a wonderful orchestral score by Stefan Gregory, who I must admit was previously unknown to me.

"The Dig" opened last weekend in select theaters for a short run before then moving on to Netflix. (Seems like every other new theatrical release these days follows that pattern....) Thankfully the film opened at my art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The early Satruday evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (exactly 5 people including myself). Never mind. If you are in the mood for a good ol' fashioned hisstorical drama featuring outstanding performances from Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (if you still can), on VOD< or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Honestly, I landed on the film last night, browsing titles on Netflix, because of Lily James - having known nothing else about the film from before (I usually skip trailers these days), but that she was in the cast was a huge draw for me - and found immense pleasure in this gem of a film. From Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes to Ben Chaplin and Archie Barnes, the performances are all first-rate. The real-life story is told with great finesse, and filmed earnestly with a keen eye for production details. I have to say, even some of the lesser moments from the film shall stay with me for long, its appeal is that strong.

The Dig (2021) was directed by Simon Stone. It stars Carey Mulligan as Edith Pretty. Mrs. Pretty is a widow who lives on a large estate. She is convinced that there's something of archeological significance on her property. She employ Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate one of the burial mounds. Brown is a skilled and experienced excavator, but he has no formal academic training. The result of his efforts can now be seen in the British Museum.

This could have been a great movie, if director Stone had just worked with what actually happened. Naturally, staff of the local museum wanted to direct the excavation, as did staff of the British museum. There was an inquest to decide the ownership of the find. World War II was (literally) about to begin. A perfect 90-minute movie. However, it ended up being a less-than-perfect 105 minute movie.

That's because director Stone brings in a (fictitious) cousin of Mrs. Pretty and a beautiful young female archeologist married to a stodgy , unromantic male archeologist. (Guess where that goes?) The inquest--an absolutely essential scene about who owns the find--is botched. You have to work backwards to figure out what happened. Worst of all, you never see the dramatic results of the excavation. You can see them in the British Museum, or online, or on a postcard. However, you don't see them in the movie. (Maybe the British Museum didn't like the movie, and refused to give permission.)

All in all, what could have been an excellent movie turned out to be pretty good movie. It's worth seeing as long as you don't expect great things. It works well on the small screen. The Dig has a pretty good rating of 7.3. I agreed, and rated it 7.

So rare to watch a wonderfully gentle but poignant film. It tugs at the emotions as it tells a largely true. Some liberties are taken with the truth but largely accurate. The real story of Peggy Piggott is fascinating and worth a film in itself. However the real stars of the story are Edith Pretty and Basil Brown portrayed brilliantly by Mulligan and Fiennes. One small criticism is that Carey Mulligan is too young for the part but she carries it off superbly and the performance by Ralph Fiennes is one of the best I have seen in a long time. The whole cast is superb and the backdrop of imminent war is ever present throughout the film. I have visited Sutton Hoo a number of times and studied the excavation and I still marvel at the work Basil Brown did. As an archaeologist myself I can say his work even by today's standards was of the highest order. Many of the academic archaeologists before and after WW2 were useless when it came to excavation and recording it. Basil Brown did everything right and it is fantastic he is at last getting the credit he deserved and that Edith Pretty wanted for him. It is to the great shame of the academic establishment it has taken so long. The film portrays this extremely well.