In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the Axis powers have surrendered, and Hitler has committed suicide. But to this day there remains a question over what happened to Hitler's body. A quick Wikipedia search suggests some conflicting reports, and various parts being taken for autopsy by different parties to confirm his demise, or to strengthen their position as a political strength in his absence. Burial suggests one possible story for what happened, albeit a very unlikely one. Involving Hitler's body in remarkably good condition.
A small group of soviet soldiers (one of whom is Jewish, though this is underdeveloped), is tasked with transporting Hitler's body back to Russia so it can be placed on display as a show of strength by Stalin. They take a scenic route through the woods, and are pursued by a group of “Werewolf” Nazi soldiers. An elite force that uses guerrilla tactics and hallucinogenic gas to scare and disorientate their prey. So far, kind of interesting.
And it is, for a bit. The first act has our heroes facing off against what appears to be actual werewolves in the woods, whilst tasked with carrying and nightly reburying the mysterious contents of the crate they carry. It suggests that perhaps there is a genuine supernatural element to the villains, and perhaps the load they carry also has some sort of power that is contained by being buried under the group.
Nope.
About halfway through we get a scene where we meet the bad guys. They explain their evil plan, show us what's in the box and from then on Burial is completely disappointingly generic.
There are some attempts to make the characters more interesting. One has apparently survived lots of things he shouldn't have, and the lead is a female Jewish soldier, a rare thing in stories set in this era. But ultimately almost every aspect of Burial is underdeveloped and seems to suffer from some basic storytelling issues.
Anyone who has watched a Ted talk knows, you don't show your audience inside the box. Anyone who has watched any (decent) monster movie knows, you don't show or explain your enemy. Burial does both of those things, and then treads water uninterestingly for a further 45 minutes before it mercifully ends.
Shame.
The final fight is uninspired, further made boring by the lack of characters to root for, and the bookended scenes set in the 90s with a neo-Nazi? Meh.
Ultimately, you'd get more out of a scroll through Wikipedia.
Burial is available on digital 26th September and on selected platforms from 12th September from 101 Films
