Director Simon Stone has crafted a beautiful ‘old-fashioned’ style historical piece full of all the great qualities we expect in those films: a wonderful cast, a gripping story, terrific music, a magical landscape, and an emotional punch worthy of your time.
Ralph Fiennes is terrific as an archeologist who is engaged by a young widower to explore what appear to be burial mounds on her English estate. Carey Mulligan is a young widower, raising a son as Britain again prepares for war. In less skilled hands, this could have been a romance, or something more hyped up - especially for audiences who may not know much about British history.
Thus, simple acts – of nature, of men, or armies – become essential and beautiful. A son learns lessons in life, a young couple find each at the last possible moment, and the history of the piece comes to life in a very special way.
In its simple and old fashioned way, the film finds glory in connecting the earth of the past and the skies of the future.