This is one of these films that works best when you have absolutely no knowledge about because it's going to be difficult keeping the ending a secret three years after the film was released . Unfortunately for me and a large proportion of people the bleak nihilistic ending became common knowledge via word of mouth very quickly . Does this mean it's not worth seeing if you know the ending ? Not necessarily because I enjoyed THE SIXTH SENSE despite knowing the ending to that movie before I saw it and BURIED isn't a film that relies one hundred per cent on its ending
What the film is very good at is communicating the fear hope and despair of its protagonist Paul Conroy who after being captured by insurgents finds himself buried alive inside a coffin somewhere in Iraq . Commendably the producers have resisted the temptation that the action cuts between the protagonist and those trying to save him . But then you stop to realise this is probably down to budget . It's an independent production filmed in Barcelona so cutaways to offices in Washington and Baghdad and above surface in wartorn Iraq would have pushed up the budget , BURIED is a film that out of production necessity contains the narrative to one location of that of the interior of the coffin . That said it is a very effective claustrophobic drama that Hitchcock would have been proud of . Indeed the title gives gives a nod to the master of suspense , so much so you might expect the words " Directed By Alfred Hitchcock " to appear
One aspect BURIED does touch upon is the politics of Iraq . There is some heavy handed commentary that becomes more and more pronounced as the story continues This seems to have alienated a few of the more respected commentators on this site and let's face it Paul's employers effectively stating " Oh you're buried alive ? Oh sorry we've got to cancel your contract then - goodbye Mr Conroy " doesn't ring true . Where the political subtext does work better is by having Dan Brenner the head of the Hostage Working Group played by a Briton . The Hostage Working Group was a 30 strong working group set up by the US State Department . It's unlikely a non American would be so prominent in this organization but yet the film makes the point that the invasion of Iraq was an Anglo/American alliance . The failure of Brenner to save Conroy can be seen as a failure of political will by the British to save the Southern sector of Iraq from violent Shia militias who imposed a reign of terror on the secular civilian population of that region , a situation only rectified by an American and Iraqi army led operation to eliminate the militias much to the humiliation of the British army
In short this is a very effective low budget independent feature that'll stay in your memory and shows an audience and what can be done with a simple premise and a low budget . The politics of the film might be a bone of contention to some but let's face it - no one was apolitical when it came to the invasion of Iraq
What the film is very good at is communicating the fear hope and despair of its protagonist Paul Conroy who after being captured by insurgents finds himself buried alive inside a coffin somewhere in Iraq . Commendably the producers have resisted the temptation that the action cuts between the protagonist and those trying to save him . But then you stop to realise this is probably down to budget . It's an independent production filmed in Barcelona so cutaways to offices in Washington and Baghdad and above surface in wartorn Iraq would have pushed up the budget , BURIED is a film that out of production necessity contains the narrative to one location of that of the interior of the coffin . That said it is a very effective claustrophobic drama that Hitchcock would have been proud of . Indeed the title gives gives a nod to the master of suspense , so much so you might expect the words " Directed By Alfred Hitchcock " to appear
One aspect BURIED does touch upon is the politics of Iraq . There is some heavy handed commentary that becomes more and more pronounced as the story continues This seems to have alienated a few of the more respected commentators on this site and let's face it Paul's employers effectively stating " Oh you're buried alive ? Oh sorry we've got to cancel your contract then - goodbye Mr Conroy " doesn't ring true . Where the political subtext does work better is by having Dan Brenner the head of the Hostage Working Group played by a Briton . The Hostage Working Group was a 30 strong working group set up by the US State Department . It's unlikely a non American would be so prominent in this organization but yet the film makes the point that the invasion of Iraq was an Anglo/American alliance . The failure of Brenner to save Conroy can be seen as a failure of political will by the British to save the Southern sector of Iraq from violent Shia militias who imposed a reign of terror on the secular civilian population of that region , a situation only rectified by an American and Iraqi army led operation to eliminate the militias much to the humiliation of the British army
In short this is a very effective low budget independent feature that'll stay in your memory and shows an audience and what can be done with a simple premise and a low budget . The politics of the film might be a bone of contention to some but let's face it - no one was apolitical when it came to the invasion of Iraq