Stars: 4/5
“If 1,000 years were to pass in an instant, what would be left of us?”
Netflix’s new original movie “The Dig” unearths questions of human mortality, while drawing a thought-provoking line through life, death and history to connect the past with the present and the future.
For a movie with such a focus on dirt, “The Dig” is anything but dry.
Based on the true story of the actual archeological digs at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, in 1939, “The Dig” follows Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), the wealthy widow of a property with numerous ancient burial mounds, and Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), the skilled, yet officially untrained excavator hired to discover what was underneath.
“The Dig” opens with a quaint view of the English countryside. Basil is first seen with his bicycle on a rowboat and then pedaling down a long gravel drive to an English manor.  
Set on the eve of WWII, the plot intertwines many complex elements along with the stories of many characters.
Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan lead the cast as Basil and Mrs. Pretty, respectively. Joining the two are Lily James as Peggy Piggott, a female archeologist working at the site, and Archie Barnes as Robert Pretty, the young son of Mrs. Pretty who befriends many of the archeologists as he plays among the mounds.
There’s also British Museum representative Charles Phillips, played by Ken Stott, and James Reid Moir, the Ipswich Museum president played by Paul Ready, adding to tensions over an inquest concerning ownership of the archeological finds.
The only entirely fictional lead character is Mrs. Pretty’s cousin photographer Rory Lomax, portrayed by Johnny Flynn.
The actual photographers of the historical site were Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff, who were unfortunately left out of the movie so that Rory could serve as both photographer and love interest in an artistic liberty romantic subplot.
Despite these discrepancies and some dramatization, “The Dig,” adapted from John Preston’s novel by the same name, does accurately portray the unearthing of the 90-foot-long skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon burial ship from the seventh century.
Called “Britain’s Tutankhamun,” the tomb underneath the mound is believed to have belonged to King Rædwald of East Anglia. Although this is not known for certain, several important artifacts with origins from across the world were recovered from the site, bringing light to the Dark Ages.
Even though I had no idea what the little gold artifacts were, nor any factual knowledge about Sutton Hoo before watching, I was still able to follow and enjoy the storyline of “The Dig.”
I would caution you to pay attention while watching, though. Several scenes include voiceovers where the people who are heard talking are not the people seen on the screen, and the plot is as layered as the soil they are unearthing.
Some holes are left unfilled at the end, which ultimately caused me to take to Google so I could have some closure on the real-life characters. I also wished some of the real pictures from the site would have found their way into the movie. There’s no special scenes or extras tucked in or hidden away at the end of the credits.
Nevertheless, just as the artifacts preserved the story of the Anglo-Saxons at Sutton Hoo, “The Dig” allows the stories of these archeologists to live on in a way that is both educational and entertaining.