The Dig

8/28/2019

**_Bleakly compelling, although the last act is weak_** > _And you, Tacitus,_ >_observe how I make my grove_ >_on an old crannog_ >_piled by the fearful dead_ - Seamus Heaney; "Kinship"; _North_ (1975) Unfortunately released the same day as a little film called _Avengers: Endgame_, _The Dig_ will most likely pass from Irish cinemas without much of an impact. And that's a real shame, as it's a fine film. Written by Stuart Drennan, and directed by the Tohill brothers, Andy and Ryan, in their feature debut, the film is essentially a study of psychological breakdown, and the emotional damage that can be done by a self-appointed Sisyphean task which, by definition, can never be completed. Looking at the tendency in rural Ireland to anthropomorphise the Land, celebrating how it