There isn’t any “one size fits all” approach to making your way through life – everyone is on their own journey, and tends to be given specific opportunities to better their situation or blessings that help them achieve something that separates them from the rest of society. In many cases, these tend to be concealed, hidden from view, and patiently waiting for us to unearth them. In the case of Edith Pretty, a wealthy widow living in Suffolk during the 1930s, her blessing was disguised in the form of large burial mounds on the sprawling countryside property that she inherited from her late husband, and to discover that lurked beneath (and hopefully provide a way for her and her young son to survive increasingly difficult social and cultural obstacles), she hires Basil Brown, a grizzled, self-taught archaeologist to excavate the site. He not only brings strength and dedication, but a wealth of expertise that are put to good use, especially when he makes a stunning discovery that is not only likely to put this site on the map, but be of historical importance – and naturally, this news begins to spread, and the unlikely duo find themselves the beneficiaries (and eventual victims) of a frenzied search for answers, none of which would not have happened without the curiosity to see what precisely lurks beneath the idyllic but non-descript rural farmland. Based on the novel by John Preston and directed by Simon Stone, it is a very effective period drama in which the priority is less on splendour and more on representing this small but fascinating moment in the past, The Dig is a mostly charming film that offers exactly what it claims to on the surface, and very little else once we move past the initial novelty, leading to a film that has its flaws, but still gives us a relatively enjoyable experience in the process.

On the surface, The Dig seems like quite a conventional period drama – it is extremely stately and has a certain sophistication that many could mistake for stiffness and a lack of energy, which is not entirely true when we consider the themes with which it is working. There is a certain charm to this story that we find through examining its fundamental ideas – it may seem like the plot centers on the efforts to excavate an ancient burial site, and while this is the impetus for the plot, its not the core of the film, which is instead much more engaging in practice than we may anticipate. While we can discuss the merits and shortcomings of the actual filmmaking, one aspect that does require some praise is how the film takes a relatively simple idea and makes it into a testament to the power of resilience and community. The film starts as a mere case of a rich dowager hiring a steadfast but lonely labourer to undertake a major project, and then as time progresses (and his discovery begins to pique the curiosity of others), the more people are enlisted – whether through being hired or by their fascination and desire to be a part of this potentially historical process – which leads to more connections being made, unearthing new dynamics that serve as the propellant for the film’s most integral ideas. Many period dramas centre around a group of people coming together to solve a particular problem, and The Dig focuses on creating something that uses these elements as the foundation for a well-crafted exploration of the process of provoking the unknown and challenging the status quo in increasingly daring ways.

Much of the attention that this film received at the time of its release had to do with the casting of the two main leads, portrayed by Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, two exceptional actors who were playing decidedly against type. Mulligan compensates for the fact that she was about two decades too young for this role (with the original story being about this older woman and her professional and personal friendship with the younger man she hires to complete this task) through capturing the nuances of the character and bringing her to life with extraordinary vigour and just enough attention to detail to make for a very special performance. Fiennes is equally as good, playing the part of the humble and hardworking Basil Brown with a lot of sincerity, avoiding turning the character into nothing more than a condescending, dour academic, which would have undoubtedly occurred with slightly less effort from whoever was tasked with bringing the role to the screen. Neither of the two leads is doing revolutionary work, but in a film like The Dig, it is always more impressive to have actors who can tailor their performances to the tempo of the film, rather than attempting to outsmart it or make it more unnecessarily complex than it needed to be. The supporting cast is not quite as strong, primarily because some of the key characters are introduced too late, such as Peggy Piggott, who is eventually positioned as a third lead, despite being a late entry into the story, and someone whose entirely sub-plot feels like a mere attempt to add layers to the film, which is a disservice to Lily James, who does her best to maintain some degree of consistency with the character, but simply doesn’t have much emotional bandwidth by the film not being entirely aware of how it wants to portray the character, which is a common problem that we find afflicts most of the supporting cast.

However, as much as the themes may resonate and the performances are very well-constructed, we cannot overlook the reality that The Dig is a film about the process of digging holes, and there is only so much enthusiasm even the most open-minded of viewers can muster for such a premise. Unfortunately, while it does have its merits, the film struggles to establish a clear point of view or become entirely effective in terms of how it handles its material, ultimately becoming a victim of its construction. The film is quite simply limited in terms of how far it can take these ideas – there is only a certain amount of patience we have when it comes to watching a group of straight-laced individuals digging through the earth, and while the film does consistently attempt to redirect our attention to other subjects (such as the interpersonal dynamics and a broad analysis of the social system at the time, particularly since these events took place on the eve of the Second World War), there is only so much that can be done before the film runs out of momentum and becomes overly dull and dense, which occurs quite quickly, and never truly recovers, despite its best efforts. Preston’s novel, which was a seamless blend of fact and fiction, is at least engaging in a literary sense, using evocative language to create certain images in the minds of the reader. Stone’s adaptation does not have this benefit, and the washed-out, very bland execution does not serve much positive purpose after some time has elapsed and we realize that this film is not going to become much deeper than it is in the first few scenes.

The Dig is a film that is solid but unremarkable, and perhaps its biggest mistake is that it chose to convey itself as some overly important historical text, when in reality a more practical approach would have been to craft a quieter and more engaging narrative that uses the excavation of this site as the narrative foundation, rather than the primary driver of the plot, since this is decidedly not an essential story by any stretch of the imagination. Some of its ideas are tremendous – we can look at how the film eventually chooses the recognition of underpraised voices as its foundational message, but this clashes with a story that simply does not seem all that interesting when divorced of its central themes. The film has some fascinating insights into history, and is relatively well-made and acted quite decently, but it also wears away at our patience, running too long to sustain an already threadbare plot, and revolving around a series of emotional and social transactions that are intriguing at first, but begin to feel slightly too dour as the film progresses and we realize that the payoff is not going to be worth the time spent heading in that direction. It’s solid at the best of times, and maintains a level of artistic integrity, but is ultimately a very limited film, and tells a story that needed slightly more work in terms of developing its ideas, and a more precise attention to detail when it comes to realizing the ambitions it had from the start, but struggled to entirely develop to the full extent of its potential.