Die Ausgrabung

So rare to watch a wonderfully gentle but poignant film. It tugs at the emotions as it tells a largely true. Some liberties are taken with the truth but largely accurate. The real story of Peggy Piggott is fascinating and worth a film in itself. However the real stars of the story are Edith Pretty and Basil Brown portrayed brilliantly by Mulligan and Fiennes. One small criticism is that Carey Mulligan is too young for the part but she carries it off superbly and the performance by Ralph Fiennes is one of the best I have seen in a long time. The whole cast is superb and the backdrop of imminent war is ever present throughout the film. I have visited Sutton Hoo a number of times and studied the excavation and I still marvel at the work Basil Brown did. As an archaeologist myself I can say his work even by today's standards was of the highest order. Many of the academic archaeologists before and after WW2 were useless when it came to excavation and recording it. Basil Brown did everything right and it is fantastic he is at last getting the credit he deserved and that Edith Pretty wanted for him. It is to the great shame of the academic establishment it has taken so long. The film portrays this extremely well.