To call Alejandro Iñárritu ‘s Digger the most audacious and innovative mainstream film in years would be criminally bare. Nothing can prepare you for Digger, Tom Cruise ’s return to acting after years of just stardom. The film is an indictment of the West’s apathy to climate crisis, as well as a sharp dig at the capitalists America loved to deify. At its core is a Strangelove-esque brave satire that goes off the rails on occasions, but always finds its way back to jolt, shock, and stun the audience.
But it is also about Curtis, a man you are introduced midway through the film, and how his struggles are linked to Digger’s in more ways than one can see. Digger has been described as the world’s richest man’s attempt to convince the world that he is the only man who can save them from the very crisis he has caused. The film’s marketing has been slightly vague, not revealing beyond a certain point. And I refuse to either. At its core, the film is about Digger Rockwell, an oil baron who has caused a massive ecological disaster, but refuses to be crucified for it.
For what Digger is all about and how it has been handled deserves to be seen, not told.
Why Iñárritu chooses to tell the story this way is revealed in the film. The best satire is always indistinguishable from reality. We live in times where The New York Times headlines can be mistaken for The Onion spoofs. Digger is a film for these times. It talks of a glacier causing a tsunami, a macabre joke just weeks after an ice shelf caused a deluge in Nepal. Such disasters have occured before, and Digger knows, that if left unchecked, they will occur again. It is not alarmist, certainly not if the world continues to turn a deaf ear to the pleas. But Digger is more than just satire. It also cuts a hole in the American way of life. It shames the West for its apathy towards climate change, it makes a mockery of the capitalists who built the country, and it admonishes the administrations that have clung to power at a human cost. No wonder most American critics hated the film. It takes enormous amount of self-awareness to distinguish satire from a personal attack, and most of us aren’t quite there yet. Digger’s story is staged like a play with long uncut shots, choreographed movements across the frame, and elaborate sets. But it adds to not just the film’s aesthetic but also the bizareness of it all. Digger always feels like a fever dream, but one that has the potential to hurt you in real life as well. It helps that the perfomances are top notch. Tom Cruise delivers one of his best in years, bringing to the fore the disdain, arrogance, and sheer apathy of a billionaire who is only concerned with money. Aiding him in representing the modern society’s decadence is John Goodman as the American President who wears red ties, has burgers in the Oval Office and has memory issues. A mix of the worst of Trump and Biden, Goodman’s President is an SNL-like spoof of American executive, and the veteran actor nails the irreverent tone with brilliant ease. Digger tests your patience. It is not a perfect film. Multiple times, when you are immersed in the story of Digger and Judy (the glacier), Iñárritu pulls you back and asks you to focus on Curtis instead. You wonder why the director is taking you away from an interesting story. The payoff comes late into the film, by when, you are sufficiently irked by the back-and-forth. Thankfully, Iñárritu’s brilliance and a powerful cameo from Jesse Plemons help the film get back on track, and how.
His 10-minute monologue is a masterclass in staging, framing, and choreography where the actor and the director collaborate to give a memorable sequence. Because it is all a pattern, it analyses the past and critiques the present,.
But like I said, satire doesn’t predict the future.
