The longer “Sapience” will be on earth, the longer the curiosity and fascination with Adolf Hitler and World War II will persist. The Nazis, the Holocaust, and Soviet-Nazi conflicts alone undoubtedly leave such a crater and are worth telling stories about without end. There are innumerable cinematic pieces on this specific plotline, like “Valkyrie,” “The Meaning of Hitler,” “Inglorious Basterds,” “The Plot To Kill Hitler,” and many more. “Burial” is also a post-war Holocaust fiction thriller written and directed by Ben Parker with a spine-chilling plotline of the demise of Hitler and a troop of Russian soldiers secretly transporting the terrible Führer’s carcass to Moscow at Stalin’s command during the final days of World War II, 1945. Will they be able to make it? “Burial” is all about this covert journey and its aftermath. So, without further ado, let’s explore.
Spoilers Ahead
Who is Anna Marshall? Why Did A Neo-Nazi Break Into Her House?
The film opens in London on Christmas Eve in 1991. An intruder wearing a wolf mask abruptly enters Anna Marshall’s (Harriet Walter) home while she is watching the news about the fall of the Soviet Union. The invader, a neo-Nazi, named Karl Edward (David Alexander), is expertly tackled and handcuffed by Anna. Karl reveals that he is aware of Anna’s secret just before she is about to call the police. He is aware that Brana Vasilyeva Brodskaya, a former Soviet commando who is now known as Anna Marshall, was the only female intelligence officer in the Russian troops for a highly classified undercover mission to transport a significant item they discovered at Hitler’s Chancellery bunker to Moscow. The young neo-Nazi was told her story by an old man. Karl was very certain that it contained important information indicating Hitler’s survival or knowledge of his location. He comes to her for the answer and to get the full picture. What did the bunker contain? Anna granted him his final request. She drugs him, knocks him out, tells him the whole truth when he is semi-conscious, and disproves his intel.
What Caused The Covert Mission To Remain Incomplete?
Anna recalls the time of 1945, the last few days of World War II, when she was Brana Vasilyeva Brodskaya (Charlotte Vega), a young lieutenant in the Russian force. Stalin gave her and her fellow commanders the go-ahead for a clandestine operation to deliver the victory memento—the body of Hitler in a bunker in Berlin—to Moscow. They had to travel by road, partly on foot, till they boarded a train because there were no aircraft available. Every time they spend the night elsewhere, they are obliged to bury the container. Brana was asked by fellow officer Tor Oleynik (Barry Ward) why they had to cremate it every night, and she responded that it was to keep it in the absolute hide. Even though someone could still murder them while they were asleep, they would not find this secret bunker if it was buried deep and hidden. Brana continued to experience nightmares in which she awoke in a bunker and saw Hitler commit suicide and the end of the Nazi empire. The following morning, they got up and resumed traveling. But suddenly, a sharpshooter struck them, killing a fellow officer, Comrade Colonel in the process. Brana recognized the gunman as a werewolf, a member of the Nazi army’s resistance group that operates beyond the enemy lines after they had knocked him down following a brief gunfight. This force, which was Joseph Goebbels’ idea, is made up of regular citizens who have been brainwashed. To give this power a more terrifying depiction, it is named after the mythic werewolf. Officer Vadim Ilyasov (Dan Renton Skinner) wanted to set up camp there at night, but Brana was concerned that there were other werewolves around and wanted to continue their journey without wasting time. He even made his way to the town to commemorate the “Spoils of War,” which simply meant that he wanted to drink and exploit women to mark the victory. Ilyaov’s careless actions infuriated Brana since it was unsafe and dangerous to break apart into groups in this sensitive scenario. Tor, Griggoriy, and Iossif Gulyaev (Bill Milner) waited for their teammates in the wilderness while debating the existence of werewolves. They were simply fools who refused to give up, according to Tor. Iossif illuminated them by telling the backstory of “Memento Mori,” a Latin proverb that means “Remember Death.” Rome’s citizens yelled it at their returning soldiers who had cheated death and vanquished their foes. Simply to serve as a reminder that they were only mortals, not gods, they were told to bear death in mind. Tor informed him that because of the ferocity, the world war was no longer just a fight. Whoever survived this war, the concentration camps, or even just a life, is no longer mortal because they had no idea when life turned into a war and the war into life.
Evidently, Brana waited a bit before going to look for Ilyasov and his friends. They were in the village’s bar, overindulged in alcohol, and misbehaved with Justyna, the inn’s hostess. Brana heard a scream and hurried over to the cafe where she discovered Ilyasov, a disturbed man, assaulting Justyna. A gunman intervened during a struggle that Brana was having with the inebriated Ilyasov. Brana hurried to the tavern after hearing a gunshot there before inquiring about his location. Two of their officers were discovered to be dead. When Makar, a fellow officer, regained consciousness, he informed the others that their fatal condition was caused by the deadly smoke in the chamber. They were told by the shooter, Lukasz, that the werewolves used these methods to murder Russians. They slaughtered their targets by burning lichens and mushrooms, which produced hallucinogenic fumes and confused their prey. The werewolves kept an eye out for foreigners as they moved around the bushes where they dwelt. Anna hurried to the jungle when she realized her comrades and the hidden container were in danger.
‘Burial’ Ending, Explained: How Did Brana Become Anna? How Was The History Written By The Survivors?
Tor became suddenly aware that something was amiss in the forest. He heard some footsteps, but due to his hallucinations, he was unable to determine their location. As the werewolves duped them with the smoke, all three of them had the same experience. Iossif was saved by Brana, Ilyasov, and Lukasz, whom they met in the café, and Grigoriy faced a terrible end. But Tor got separated. He, in delusion, attempted to flee in a different direction but was unsuccessful, and the werewolves eventually grabbed him. The werewolves had stolen the Russian vehicle, and there was no means of transporting Hitler’s decomposing body, Lukasz escorted them to a secure home where they could keep their top-secret container safe. The discovery of Hitler’s body in that hidden box horrified everyone in the house. Lukasz’s assistance allowed Brana to conceal it in a subterranean room. Brana questioned him if this secret chamber served as his hiding spot. Lukasz responded that he was a Volksdeutsche, a non-German citizen from Poland with German ancestry, language, and culture. During the Nazi invasion, he had a single, straightforward option: to join the army or go to a death camp. Lukasz consented to go with them because the Nazis had promised to save his wife from being sent to a labor camp, but they broke their word. In the camp, his wife was murdered. So now, both the Soviets and the werewolves are after Lukasz. He detested Hitler so strongly that he advised Brana not to risk her life and urged her to set the body on fire. Brana, however, declined to submerge her ideas simply because it was a dangerous task. She claimed that since people in her nation wanted to look their enemies in the eyes, she needed to carry this body to Stalin, along with the dental records, to Moscow as proof. On the other hand, Tor was brutally tortured by the werewolves in exchange for information. They gathered in front of the house when they somehow learned that the Russian soldiers were carrying their deceased Führer. When Tor and his troop were reunited, the werewolves arsoned the house after a series of brief gunfights during which their other officers were killed. When Brana, Tor, and Iossif left the house, they did not observe any nearby people. They hastened to Lukasz’s secret cellar, where they discovered that werewolves had already taken the body and fled. Brana vainly attempted to follow the truck, but only saw the werewolves leaving with the corpse. Brana undoubtedly abandoned all of her ambitions. She was really upset since she was unable to carry out the commands she was required to. When she suddenly heard that werewolves were present in the church, she restored all of her hopes. She requested everyone to accompany her and rescue the body. She was adamantly resolved to expose Hitler’s disgusting remains to her compatriots, the man who had brutally butchered millions of men, women, and children. Brana did not want to acknowledge that this horrible guy, who had for years buried people’s hope, could not be put to death so easily. She wished to demonstrate to the public that this demon was really a cowardly mortal man who had expired.
When the body was taken to a church, the werewolves discovered that it originally belonged to Hitler. However, Wölfram Graeber, a werewolf officer (Kristjan Üksküla), desired to fulfill a different purpose. He warned everyone to note and tape that this body was a fake and not Hitler’s. In order to keep the public believing that Hitler was still alive, they just wanted to spread false information. Even though the notion was unfounded, Wölfram held out hope that the community would soon be strengthened by the collaboration of the divided and deceived Nazis. Wolfram was a deranged Nazi who was willing to give his life to preserve the legacy of Hitler at any cost. After recording their fabrication and beginning an autopsy, Brana, Tor, Lukasz, and Iossif broke into the church. Only Brana and Lukasz could survive after a brutal battle between them and the werewolves. Iossif sacrificed himself in order to aid Brana in escaping. The petrol bombs set the cathedral on fire. Graber, a devoted Nazi, did not flee the fire and perished along with his leader. Tor locked himself in the basement with the body and the videotapes and succumbed to the fire. Wilhelm Keitel, the high command of Nazi Germany’s Armed Forces, was coincidentally signing the German surrender at the same time. Nobody attempted to search for the Russian soldiers, assuming or hoping that they were all already dead. Despite being a competent soldier, Brana was transferred to the Siberian Gulag after arriving in Moscow, where she was imprisoned for six chilly years. There she buried the existence of being “Brana”, her beliefs and ideals, and the proof of her clandestine mission. After Brana’s death, Anna was born and has been living her life, killing any ideas of telling the world the truth, much like the phoenix rising from the ashes.
After being freed, Anna returned to Poland and met Lukasz, who not only had been by her side at the worst moments of her life but also helped her to reassemble herself from all of her broken bits. Anna discovered a pendant with a skull on Karl’s neck. Back in 1945, after the arson devastation, Lukasz discovered and saved the pendant, which in reality belonged to Tor. Anna learned that Lukasz had been murdered in Poland by an intruder who had broken into his home. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that Karl invaded and killed Lukasz. Additionally, he was familiar with Brana’s tales from “old guy” Lukasz and came looking for her. Anna corrected Karl by stating that history is not chronicled by the triumphant but rather by those who suffered and survived. When these survivors pass away, history continues to be repeated to maintain the cycle. Karl was finally given a lethal dose, and just before he closed his eyes forever, Anna showed him a gift from a green box that Lukasz had sent her as a souvenir. Despite the fact that the filmmaker chose not to reveal what was inside the box, it is most likely a piece of Hitler’s skull or dentition. The movie ends with dying Karl, to whom Anna showed a miraculous box and its contents to satisfy all of his queries concerning another box.
Final Words: A Fiction Period Drama, Thrilling and Historical
The sole concern of the film is ethical relativism concerning the unfortunate fog of war. Simple and flat-footed speech is another applaudable component of this movie. Justyna gripes that the Germans and Russians share the same nasty attitude, and post-war brutality steals our hearts. The sick-minded Ilyasov confused us as he wanted to pay proper respect to their dead comrade and also raped a woman. He and his mates made it clear that sexual assault posed a threat on par with the obstinate fanaticism and murderous rampage of the Nazis. Despite their other attributes, we are taught that everyone can present a specific threat to each one during the war, be it Polish, Nazis, or Russians, or the normal civilian. The brilliant choice to reference Werewolf is praised rather than to slavishly adhere to bookish history. When Brana thinks about her duty—to deliver Hitler’s degraded corpse—she is determined to follow the order: deliver the deadbody, despite her personal loathing of the man and his deeds. Even after failing, she went back and accepted her detention without complaining or endeavoring to come clean. The spirit of a soldier who is ignorant of everything while on duty is explored in the movie. The responsibility persisted after that fatal fire, and Brana preserved the secret her entire life, even by burying her original identity. “Burial” has a suspenseful beginning, but as the movie goes on, it is unable to maintain the tension. The film is not great because of its plodding, poor action sequences, and unimpressive plot development, but you should still add it to your watch list if you want to appreciate the history and essence of war.
“Burial” is a 2022 Drama Thriller film directed by Ben Parker.
