The Dig (2021) * * (Streaming on Netflix)

 

Directed by:  Simon Stone

Starring:  Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Archie Barnes, Ben Chaplin, Johnny Flynn, Eamon Farren

It's 1939; the eve of World War II in Great Britain, and Edith Pretty (Mulligan) doesn't have war on her mind.   There are mounds on her property which she suspects may hold ancient artifacts.  She contacts excavator Basil Brown (Fiennes) and he surveys the area.   Maybe there's something there, maybe there isn't.   Digging will be costly to the sickly Edith, who ails from a heart condition in her young age.  She presses on, and soon Basil uncovers a find for the ages: remains of an Anglo-Saxon ship from a thousand years ago and, more of interest to local museums, a vast sum of treasure, gold, and artifacts.   Suddenly, the London Museum and the more local Ipswich Museum are sending their own archaeologists to verify the findings.   Both museums want the artifacts as exhibits, but with war looming and word of German air raids, how long would it take for the find to be reduced to rubble?

The Dig is expertly acted, with the working-class Brown forming a touching friendship with Edith and her young son (Barnes), who is fascinated by archaeology.   Maybe it's a question of timing because World War II is so close that matters of excavation of mounds of dirt in the middle of the English countryside seem trivial.   How can we get worked up over who lays claim to the artifacts when thousands of British soldiers are being deployed for imminent war?   We can't, and The Dig introduces romantic subplots involving a young archaeologist (James), her stuffy husband (Chaplin), and Edith's handsome cousin (Flynn) who are all employed mostly to spice things up. 

There simply isn't a lot of drama here.   Edith's health worsens while Basil battles with the museums over who will get credit for the find and where the artifacts should go.   Ho-hum.   The movie itself never pushes the emotions too high.   It doesn't want to appear unmannerly.   In the epilogue, we discover the artifacts were safely hidden underground during the war so they remained intact.   Basil was never mentioned in any way until years later when he was given his posthumous credit.   What we have with The Dig is superb performances standing around waiting for a story equal to them.   It doesn't happen.