The books of sui-generis nature writer Robert Macfarlane have been on my to-read list for some time. I am told that works such as The Wild Places, The Lost Words, and Is a River Alive? are thought-provoking and evocative forays into the natural world that strike the right readers as miraculous. Underland: A Deep Time Journey, his 2019 book exploring what lies beneath the earth, is the only one I have on my shelf. (It remains unread.)

Filmmaker Rob Petit caught the bug immediately when he read it. According to his director’s statement, he was still reading the first chapter when he was “struck by the impulse that this very special book also needed to be a film.” He made it happen: Macfarlane collaborated on the script for this 79-minute adaptation. Divided into six parts, each chapter is prefaced with some oracular narration from actress Sandra Hüller and follows three figures in their respective pursuits below ground. Archaeologist Fátima Tec Pool travels to caves in the Yucatán with her team to find traces of the ancient Mayans and other early humans. Photographer and writer Bradley Garrett explores sewers and otherwise off-limits underground sites of cities to analyze what lurks down below. Mariangela Lisanti, a particle physicist, searches for dark matter through experiments that must be conducted deep within the earth.

This brief work is full of evocative images, snippets of insightful text, and observations. An early piece of narration, presumably from Macfarlane’s book, states that one doesn’t need to go far underground before everything becomes strange; close-ups of roots, grubs, rocks, and dirt show us how true this is. Tec Pool remarks that, every time she travels the caves, she thinks of how her Mayan ancestors must have ventured there in near-complete darkness, having only fire to light their way. Garrett, whose observations are often unexpected and striking, repeatedly draws attention to the detritus humans try to make disappear, as well as the places where humans neglected by society have fled. To him, everything underground says something about us up above. The parts devoted to Lisanti are often a little jarring; her concerns are so different from the other two that it’s easy to feel like she’s in a different film. That being said, she offers plenty to kindle the interest of many viewers regarding the fugitive existence of dark matter.

Furthermore, it must be said that the documentary never particularly advances on any of the compelling subjects it brings to light. Indeed, in spite of the stunning cinematography (much of which must have been accomplished in dangerous conditions) and Macfarlane’s own participation, this adaptation feels like more of a rushed sketch. Deep time, which is measured in eons and epochs, is frequently mentioned, especially when referring to the patterns one observes in ancient rocks; each of the three strands could have been deepened by more, shall we say, “shallow time.” It’s the sort of film that one feels should be a TV series. As it stands, each section is too brief and too skimpy on discussion to really make the whole stand on its own.

However, if it was part of Petit’s intention to make viewers like me finally take Underland off the shelf, perhaps he has succeeded.