Burial (2022) Review

The feature from director Ben Parker opens with a young man breaking into the home of the elderly Anna Marshall (Harriet Walter). Anna however is prepared for the man, and actually seems to have been expecting him. Finding the upper hand, she drugs him and handcuffs him to a radiator, before reflecting on the story that led them to this very moment.

Set shortly after the end of World War 2, Burial follows a group of Russian soldiers as they are tasked with transporting an enigmatic box back to Moscow. Whatever is inside is of grave importance and the group are instructed to bury the box every evening before digging it up again the following morning, ensuring it is never allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

Following the determined Brana Vasilyeva (Charlotte Vega), the story develops as she struggles with the mission due to rising tensions amongst her team who often dismiss her steadfast resolve. As the only woman in the group, Brana is berated and put down by her command, particularly the belligerent Vadim who is more interested in drinking and assaulting the local women.

It seems that the film will progress with a focus on the mystery of what is in the box, but we actually find out quite early on that the soldiers are in fact transporting the corpse of Adolf Hitler.

What should play out as a dramatic reveal instead felt a little underwhelming. Whilst it is depicted as an incredibly important task, returning the body of the Fuhrer to Stalin to stand as proof of Hitler’s demise, reflecting on this notion from 2022 just seems a little uninspired. We know he is dead, we know this is a work of fiction, and yet the world learned of Hitlers death with or without this Russian group and their mission.

It felt as though learning of the contents of the box was a turning point for the film, in which the stakes should have been upped, however instead I found myself struggling to care. Having already opened to the present day in what was presumably not a vastly different world, it is already clear the actions of the group have caused no major ripple in the progression of time as we know it, and so as the film progresses their actions have very little impact.

Furthermore, despite the mix of nationalities depicted within the film, the vast majority of cast presented strong English accents or somewhat bizarrely, Estonian. In a post feature Q&A director Ben Parker explained limitations linked to the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on shooting locations and cast they could use, so instead they utilised the difference in accent between the predominately British cast and locals from their shooting location of Estonia.

Whilst I understand that one should be willing to suspend belief somewhat for a film, the result is a confusing mix of accents, none of which match the nationalities of the characters depicted and leads to a very perplexing muddle where the audience struggles to even work out who is who.

At the beginning of the film it initially appears that it may develop as an intriguing mystery as we try to work out what is in the box, with hints of an underlying supernatural element. What quickly transpires however is a rather bland war drama with very little in the way of character development.

Maybe it just wasn’t for me, but I rather think Burial should stay buried.

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