Review of Buried (2010) by Cherrie R — 23 Mar 2013

Paul Conroy, a private contractor, working as a truck driver in Iraq, wakes up after an ambush to discover he is inside a wooden coffin buried beneath the desert sand. He has nothing but a lighter, a flask with whiskey, some pills and a cell phone provided to him by his captors. He begins to make desperate calls for help as time drags on and his situation becomes more and more dire.

This is the premise (and a large portion of the plot) of BURIED, an independent film from Spain, starring Ryan Reynolds in what is essentially a one-man show. It's a tense little thriller that is nearly spoiled by some serious flaws. Reynolds gives a fairly convincing performance as a fairly ordinary guy who begins his ordeal in a panic and only gradually finds his way to calm. At least, he's calm for awhile.

The movie is mostly the various conversations he has with the outside world. Grappling with lost signals (and a dying battery), answering machines and a disbelieving bureaucracy. He can't reach his loved ones. He can't convince his captors that he doesn't have $5 million dollars to exchange for his freedom. There's really nothing he can do about his situation...he has no way to break free and must rely entirely on a world of people who aren't quite as motivated as he is.

Director Rodrigo Cortes does a good job of finding as many ways of filming the events of the films as he can. His camera swoops around inside the coffin, yet we always have the claustrophobic feeling. The film has a simple premise (sort of in the way that OPEN WATER was a simple, claustrophobic little film), but Cortes and company grab all they can out of it.

However, even though we can believe that Conroy would frequently panic and make some bad decisions...he makes too many bad choices. When he does reach people on the phone, he does an unbelievably bad job of convincing them that he really needs their help. I can believe him losing his cool once or twice...but he does it fairly consistently. And when he finally DOES reach someone who might be willing to help, he spends a lot of time sharing unneeded information. He knows his battery is running down, yet he often wastes his breath. It got to the point where I occasionally thought, "Well, if he dies, he has no one to blame but himself." (Notwithstanding that he didn't put himself in the coffin.).

Worst of all, though...the film manages to take some pretty nasty jabs at the mission in Iraq and make some attempts at moral relativism. One of the folks working to help Conroy, a hostage expert in Iraq, actually tries to explain away the terrorist acts as the work of people who will simply do anything to survive. "You'd do the same if you were in their situation, Paul," this awful man says. REALLY??? If a time comes when the only way I can think to feed my family is to kidnap folks and bury them alive...go ahead and shoot me. To dare suggest that Americans would be just as bad as these terrorist extremists is a mighty big (and offensive) argument for a little thriller to make. For unsubtle, unearned and unsubstantiated political/social statements inserting themselves where they don't belong, BURIED takes the cake.

The day after seeing the film, what I remember most is not the tension and excitement and fear...but the bad taste in my mouth from the group of Spanish filmmakers and producers who took pot shots at America.

I mention all this, because the film is generally very effective (though not as tense as some other reviews I've read have implied). If you don't mind the politics I mention, by all means enjoy the film. If you find the premise intriguing enough that you think you need to overlook the politics...then you'll have a good time. I just wish someone had warned me.