directed by: Simon Stone, year: 2021
actors: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James

The Dig follows Edith Pretty and self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown as they uncover the Sutton Hoo burial mounds on an Essex estate in 1939. A quiet, intimate drama about obsession, memory, and class, it pairs hopeful discovery with the personal costs of a life devoted to archaeology. Directed by Simon Stone from John Preston’s novel, the film centers on Mulligan’s poised Edith and Fiennes’s stubborn yet compassionate Brown, with Lily James as Peggy Piggott. The story captures a nation on edge as history is made and the human ties behind the discovery come to light.

Historical Legacies, Historical Drama, Biographical, Sutton Hoo, Archaeology, British Cinema, Period Piece