17th March, 2021.
Right …
That video intro has gone up, today: telling you, me, and one thousand. one hundred and twenty seven people on YouTube — my followers, in other words — that tonight, I’m going to watch a movie.
And hadn’t made my mind up, about which one.
Léon: The Professional was on offer from Apple.
They’ve got 2001: A Space Odyssey* on offer as well, which I didn’t notice.
I may have to sit down with it, again …
I’d also have a copy of Once Were Warriors: the film stars Temuera Morrison as one of two main characters. I’d fancied seeing it … as I’d seen Temuera crop up in a recent episode of The Mandalorian.
Eventually, though … ?
Well, you’ve possibly guessed what I watched, in the end.
I’ll have more about The Dig, tomorrow …
Based on the true story of the Sutton Hoo treasure, The Dig shows us Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) slowly cycling his way to the small village go Sutton: to a meeting with local landowner, Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan).
There’s been several … interesting … mounds on some of her farm land: mounds that have been there for years.
And mounds she wants to have seriously examined by some one who knows what they’re doing.
Basil? Is experienced and knowledgable, even if he’s not an academic.
And eager to move to a new dig: as he feels undervalued by Ipswich Museum.
With terms agreed … ?
Edith loans two of her best staff to help with the initial digging: on what Brown feels could be a seriously old burial†.
It’s not until Basil is buried by a collapsing trench?
That things … get … … strange … … …
~≈⛏≈~
Now …
For newcomers to my films reviews?
I’ve got a rating system that goes from zero stars (☆☆☆☆): which mean I think you should not wast your time on a film.
To four stars (★★★★): whis are films I’m going to tell you to go and see, now. Or even sooner.
“What,” I hear you ask, “what did you make of The Dig, Paul?”
“What did you may of this period piece? Of a film that mixes archeology with the foreboding images of an oncoming war? That shows Fiennes and Mulligan in a touching father/daughter relationship?”
I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed The Dig.
Granted, I’m not usually one for period dramas.
No, let me rephrase that: for period dramas that have anything to do with Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters … or anything about middle aged couples having a crisis!
Frankly, I tend to go for sci-fi, thrillers and horror.
The Dig, though? Had caught my eye: in part because Carey Mulligan’s in it. I’d thought well of her, since seeing her in Dr Who, many years ago.
But partly, also because it’s about buried treasure: the buried archeological treasure at the bottom of of a mound in Suffolk, and the very human drama of digging it up.
Granted, The Dig isn’t the best film I’ve seen: I’ll leave that to the various four star wonders I have seen, over the years.
But … ?
I can happily say The Dig is a very good film.
The Dig
* Famously, 2001’s writer, Arthur C. Clark was a friend of fellow scientist, and SF writer, Isaac Asimov: the man behind the Three Laws of Robotics, the best known fictional safety feature ever written. Asimov wrote them, because he was sick of robot stories that were versions of Frankenstein. A scientist builds a robot: which then goes mad and kills people. He was really annoyed at having written a couple, himself. Isaac was seriously annoyed when his old friend, Arthur, come up with 2001. Including Hal 9000: an artificial intelligence that goes mad and kills people. You can hear Alfred Lanning muttering “That damn Frankenstein complex!”, can’t you … ?
† If I’ve understood things correctly, the boat comes from approximately the 6th to 9th centuries
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