THE LOST STRAIT is a brutal Iranian war movie about the last days of the Iran-Iraq War. Shot in a cinema verite style with incredible detail and realism, the film gets almost everything right about a war movie from quickly building characters you want to survive to big stakes to savage action.

The film opens with four Iranian soldiers of the Ammar Battalion on their way home to Tehran after a long, hard stretch at the front. After eight long years, the war against Iraq is coming to a close in 1988. On the eve of signing a UN-brokered peace deal, Iraq launches a desperate attack across the Abughoraib strait, a strategically important mountain pass. If the Baathist army can get through the pass, they will gain position to push ahead to major Iranian cities and win the war. According to the film–which in turn was based on extensive fieldwork and interviews–the battle saw use of chemical weapons, the effects of which are shown.

The soldiers are given a choice to go home if they have to and otherwise report to the front to stem the tide. They arrive to find a traffic jam of vehicles and civilians fleeing the fighting. Here, we get to know the four men, as they show compassion to help wounded leaving the front and desperate civilians. A fifth character is introduced, Ali, a teenager whose father was severely wounded in the war and who wants to do his part. As one of them was charged with a family obligation to watch out for Ali, all of them do, and we see them and the war a lot through his eyes.

When they reach the front, it’s horror and chaos, a massive desert junkyard of trenches and broken equipment and raining shells. This was a large battle, but we’re given a snapshot of a day and a half of it. The action is less focused than but just as riveting as the final battle over the bridge in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. But more real–this is the horror of modern war, in this case with outnumbered, outgunned, and thirsty soldiers dug in against waves of tanks and infantry. The fighting is savage, and though the strait is saved, they all pay a heavy price.

This was a terrific war film and a real surprise find for me. Recommended if you can get your hands on it, as it’s hard to find.

THE DIG (2021, streaming on Netflix) is an enjoyable, pass-the-time film about archaeology while including enough drama to please those looking for more. It’s a satisfying film, though I would have enjoyed it more if it focused on the dig and its remarkable find.

Based on the novel by John Preston, which is in turn based on true events, the film is about the excavation of burial mounds on a rural property in England in 1939, which results in one of the most important archeological finds in British history. Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), who owns the land, hires amateur archeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate a large burial mound, which turns up remarkable treasures that redefine modern understanding of the Dark Ages following the Romans leaving the island. As an amateur, Brown never received credit until recently.

The find showed that the Dark Ages weren’t quite all that dark, and that culture, art, and trade survived and even flourished during these years and among the barbaric invaders of the British isles. The film plays the excavation and discovery well, and this aspect of the film kept me watching. It’s not quite explored enough, as the film gives the find’s archeological significance its due but doesn’t geek on it the way I would have loved. For that, you can Google articles about the actual excavation and treasures found at Sutton Hoo.

After the initial find, a team of professional archaeologists shows up, and that’s where things take a more dramatic bent. Thematically, it’s done well, as Pretty is dying and concerned about what of her if anything might live on, WW2 and its historical significance looms, and a young couple who shouldn’t be together realize they should live their lives on their own terms. Very artistic direction–cutaways to little details in the landscape and people looking at each other while dialogue from previous conversations take place–attempts to capture a literary feel. Even with it, the result is fairly staid, though again, it’s enjoyable, and I’m happy to see a movie made like this about archaeology and in particular this important discovery. So overall, I’d grade this film a B, though for its intended audience I think it’s an A film.