Author: Louise D Arcens
(MENAFN - The Conversation) In 1939, a 7th century Saxon ship was uncovered at Sutton Hoo, the Suffolk property of Edith Pretty. The discovery of this ship would transform modern understandings of early medieval England, shedding light on the sophistication of its funerary practices, its accomplished artistry and craftsmanship, and its wide-ranging connections across Europe and beyond.
The new Netflix film The Dig dramatises the uncovering of the stunning find. Based on John Preston s 2007 historical novel and directed by Australian Simon Stone, the film follows Edith (Carey Mulligan) who, pursuing her intuition about some large mounds on her property, engages Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate them.
J.P. Devine Movie Review: ‘The Dig’
Perfect cast uncovers haunting passage to the past, writes Devine.
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Director Simon Stone’s “The Dig” floats in and around Sutton Hoo in 1939, a patch of farmland near Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, surrounded by ancient woods, and scattered with people, each with their plots of earth and who spend their days tending to them.
The largest piece of land holds the rambling estate of Mrs. Edith Pretty, (Carey Mulligan “The Great Gatsby”) the widow of a British Army officer, and possessor of a ring of strange earthen mounds.
MOVIE INFO
Length: 112 minutes
If you were to make a list of childhood dream careers, archeologist would no doubt rank highly, alongside astronaut and star athlete. And it’s easy to see why: nothing is more thrilling than the promise of discovery, the idea that the next great buried treasure could be a shovelful of dirt away. It’s a sentiment that’s made films like the Indiana Jones series both iconic and irresistible. But there is also a sad beauty to archeology, which offers us a window into our past while reminding us of our fleeting mortality. We can’t help but wonder what future archeologists will find of us, what stories they will imagine based on the things that outlast our existence.
BBC News
image copyrightNetflix/BBC
It s late summer in England, 1939. The sight and sound of RAF planes flying overhead is an ominous reminder that war looms.
The prospect of conflict troubles sensitive Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), a young widow who owns a chunk of rural Suffolk on which large mounds of earth rise up in a flat field as if the land is infested by a gang of gargantuan moles.
The grassy knolls were the reason she and her late husband bought the property, they wanted to explore them together. Well, best laid plans… she says a little too breezily.