If you grew up in England, you probably found out about the 1939 Sutton Hoo excavations at school. But for those of us across the pond, Dig on Netflix, the public has a lot to learn about the true story of one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
The novelist John Preston began educating the masses with his 2007 novel Dig, which has now been adapted for the screen by writer Moira Buffini and director Simon Stone and began streaming on Netflix on Friday. Still, though Dig is based on a true story, the key source material is not so much history as a historical novel. So sit back, enjoy the story and take part in the wonderful shows of Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes – but if you’re interested in what really happened, you might want to buy a non-fiction book. Let’s go inside Dig true story and how accurate Dig It is.
IT IS THE BASE BASED ON A TRUE STORY?
Yes. Dig tells the true story of English landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), who hired archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to dig the mysterious mounds on his Sutton Hoo property in south-east Suffolk in 1937.
WHAT IS IT THE BASE TRUE STORY? WHO WAS MARUNIU OF BASIL? WHAT IS SUTTON HOO?
Basil Brown was a self-taught archaeologist and astronomer who was only recently credited for his significant role in the field. In 1939, two years after he was hired, Brown’s excavation team discovered an almost tactile ship from the 7th century, complete with a room full of trinkets and treasures, such as masks, helmets, and more.
The discovery was revolutionary in understanding the historians of the first Anglo-Saxons who lived in medieval Britain. The weapons found suggested that the ship belonged to a great war leader, a pound spoke to people’s music and art, and a Scandinavian shield suggests diplomacy with other countries. The most famous discovery was the Sutton Hoo helmet, which was rebuilt by the British Museum and became a key image of the Anglo-Saxon period.
HOW ACCURATE THE BASE?
Most of the main characters in Dig it is based on real people, and the Sutton Hoo excavation was certainly real and significant. However, major freedoms were taken to dramatize the story. Mulligan plays English landowner Edith Pretty; Fiennes plays archaeologist Basil Brown; and Lily James plays Peggy Piggott, an English archaeologist involved in the excavation, whose nephew, John Preston, wrote the historical novel on which the film is based. Piggott’s first husband, Stuart Piggott (played by Ben Chaplin in the film), was also a true archaeologist present at the excavation, as was Charles Phillips (played by Ken Stott).
The only main character that is entirely fictional is the one played by Johnny Flynn, alias Rory, the photographer. The romantic whirlwind between Peggy and Rory in Dig here the film returns to the “fictional” category of historical fiction. (It is true that the real Peggy Piggot and her husband Stuart Piggott separated after the excavation and divorced in 1956.)
In an interview with Decider about his character from DigFlynn said: “I like the character because he is actually the only character in the story who is not a real person. John Preston, the novelist, and Moira Buffini, the screenwriter, made this fantastic device with Rory, where you can find someone who allows you to see Peggy. You will see Lily James’ character through his eyes and you will make her realize that she is not happy in her marriage. ”
Other moments were dramatized by Preston in his historical novel, including the collapse of Fiennes’s Brown and, as far as I know, the tension between Brown and the British Museum.
In response to criticism of The Dig’s reviews of creative freedoms, Flynn added: “Shakespeare took quite a few licenses in Macbeth, Hamlet, and Troilus and Cressida. It’s a story after all, and when you have to make the stories work in a few months, you have to combine people, events and characters and try to translate that for people. ”
Clock Dig on Netflix