Netflix has an archaeological film titled ‘The Dig’ which is expected to release on select theaters and will stream on the digital service in January, next year. The film is based on the historical novel of the same name which was published in 2007 by John Preston. The novel is supposed to be “an account of the ship burial excavation of Sutton Woo in 1939”, with a “few literary licenses taken”.
The trailer starts off with Ralph Fiennes’ character, Basil Brown waiting for somebody at their house’s doorstep. This somebody turns out to be Edith Pretty (portrayed by Carey Mulligan) and they then walk over to Edith’s estate, where she seems to have discovered something inside the huge mound in her estate. Brown then proceeds to dig the mound.
We understand that Brown is an excavator / archaeologist and upon digging up the mound, he discovers that the mound is the “site” of a graveyard of some kind and says to Edith, the same. Because the second World War was breaking out at the time, the Museum was reluctant to send out their archaeologists for a new venture (due to fear of lack of safety, bombings, etc.) and hence Brown came to the site, when Miss Edith requested.
Due to the size of the site, he enlists the help of few locals and finally makes a huge discovery – there is a burial ship at the excavation site, with multiple (priceless) artifacts still intact. When news of this breaks out, people from the Museum rush over to the site and get the shock of their lives on arriving.
Eventually they decide to help Brown and Miss Edith in excavating the site so as to safely take it someplace where the eventual bombings will not destroy the archaeological find. The newspapers get a wind of this dig and people around the village gather around to help them finish the excavation as fast as possible. In the backdrop of the dig, there are two stories of romance happening as well.
Besides the brilliant Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan, the film also has Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes and Monica Dolan in prominent roles. The film’s screenplay is written by Moira Buffini and it is directed by Simon Stone.
‘The Dig’ is expected to release on Netflix (and select theaters) on January 29th 2021.