“I had no idea that over 800,000 women were part of the Soviet Army”: Charlotte Vega and Ben Parker on WWII action-thriller Burial

Ben Parker’s period-set action thriller Burial is a fresh twist on a World War II story, taking place in the final days of the conflict in an alternate reality where Hitler’s body isn’t cremated and Soviet and Nazi soldiers go on the hunt for it. It takes place in flashback as an elderly woman’s (Harriet Walter) home is broken into by a neo-Nazi wanting to know details of her past, and she recalls events she lived through in 1945. Charlotte Vega plays her younger self, Soviet soldier Brana, who heads up the mission to recover the dictator’s corpse in the dark and atmospheric depths of the Polish forest to bring it back to Stalin. She faces obstacles everywhere she turns, not least in sexually aggressive male counterparts, “werewolf” resistance fighters and a blurring of dreams and reality.

The Upcoming spoke to the film’s director about how he chose and worked with his cast, and with Vega about how she prepared for the role and pulled off physically tough stunts. We also discussed how the feature raises questions about who reports on facts and creates historical narratives, how it highlights the role of women in typically male-dominated spheres (such as the military), and about the increased relevance of the film since the breakout of war in Ukraine.

Sarah Bradbury

Burial is released digitally on demand on 26^th September 2022. 

Watch the trailer for Burial here: