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All these decades later, the events of World War II continue to inspire artists as they seek to understand what happened and why. Each year brings new ideas and perspectives on its horrors. And writer/director Ben Parker’s dark thriller Burial offers a fictional account of those final days—and a desperate battle to protect the truth.
Burial looks back on a dangerous mission with the woman who’s spent decades keeping it a secret. In 1945, just after the fall of Berlin, translator and intelligence officer Brana (Charlotte Vega) is part of a band of Soviet soldiers sent on a secret mission—one so secret that even they don’t know what it is. They travel toward Moscow, protecting a mysterious crate that must be buried each night and dug up again in the morning. As they begin their journey, it seems more tedious than treacherous—until they’re ambushed in the woods of Poland, making their mission even more urgent.
Though some of the soldiers see their assignment as a pointless quest that’s preventing them from enjoying the “spoils of war,” Brana takes it seriously, determined to get this valuable cargo back to Stalin. She’s an admirable central character for the story: the one who understands what needs to be done and is willing to fight her own comrades to make it happen. And when they’re attacked in the forest by an unknown enemy, she’s the light in the shadows—the one who helps viewers maintain focus.
The action does tend to be dark and disorienting, though—and the cast of characters only adds to the confusion. Most of Brana’s traveling companions get very little introduction, making them feel more like background characters than an important part of the story. As they set out on their journey, that can, at times, be confusing. But when the Nazi “werewolves” attack, it adds more characters to the mix to make things even more confusing. And it doesn’t help that most of the characters speak British-accented English, making it impossible to understand who’s supposed to be speaking which language—and which of the characters understand what’s being said at any given time.
Still, while the story can at times feel as muddled as the characters and their language, though—and this dark and violent thriller doesn’t necessarily add much to the growing assortment of World War II stories—it takes audiences on a tense, harrowing mission through history.
With its dark post-war operation, Burial definitely adds its own twist to this popular time period. It offers plenty of gloomy battles and some solid performances, but the sometimes puzzling storytelling keeps it from being a memorable historical thriller.
Burial arrives in select theaters and on demand starting on September 2, 2022.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery
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