“Contains Spoilers”
Alejandro González Iñárritu has occupied an interesting position within the cinematic landscape. On one hand, he is one of few directors to have won Best Director at the Academy Awards for two consecutive years, celebrated for stylistic ambition and existential undertones. On the other hand, the same level of enthusiasm was never reciprocated from more serious critics and journals. A common criticism since his debut feature film “Amores perros,” that the self-anomored structural machinery in which the film operates does not quite match surface-level exploration of its themes, has followed him around throughout his career.
Iñárritu’s newest film “Digger” pushes these elements which have characterized him to extremes. On the surface, the film is centered around Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), a billionaire who’s caused a potentially world-ending catastrophe while extracting oil in Alaska with an explosion sending an iceberg the size of Maryland into the North Sea. Digger, alongside President Compson (John Goodman) and other major government officials, attempts to control both the ice shelf and public perception in what appears to be a “Dr. Strangelove”-adjacent exploration of bureaucratic incompetence.
The overstylized visual of muted color palette and the theatrical staging that nearly resembles Roy Andersson films. The constant humor that oscillates between being so stupid it almost makes the audience laugh and being genuinely sharp in its irony create something so cartoonish that it initially starts to feel insufferable.
This artificiality, however, is quickly turned out to be the point in the twist that is revealed relatively early in the film that what has been shown so far is the rehearsal from “Fossil Fuel,” a satirical play in which the actor Curtis Markson has taken up the role as Digger.
From this point, the film not only adds a layer of metafiction, it takes an entirely different direction in what it seems to be poking fun at. Similar to “Eddington” but in a less abrasive manner, the film mocks both sides of the political spectrum as it moves past the mere commentary on environmental negligence, but rather touches on various topics such as religion, consumer demand and even art. The disaster brought upon is treated as something that not only the powerful figures are responsible for, but also the society’s reliance on them despite putting the blame on them.
It is near the end of the film that the theme is revealed, especially following the big reveal that Kenny Rockwell (Jesse Plemons) is the nephew of Digger and is also financing for “Fossil Fuel.” Leaning into its metafiction element, the idea of spectatorship becomes central, as the audiences are shown cheering for the narrative that Rockwell family gets to put together. They are almost portrayed to be complicit, acting as if merely engaging with some political art were equivalent to a form of activism.
This idea is more clearly emphasized following the performance of “Fossil Fuel” which receives tremendous applause from the audience as immediately after, an announcement is made in the theater that they’ve reached “Level 4,” with everyone in attendance putting a mask on as they exit. The state of the world outside the theater is shown to be truly bleak, with the street entirely flooded and soldiers patrolling it.
Iñárritu takes this metacommentary even further, as the end credits start to roll, the “Level 4” announcement is made again, hinting at the fact that what everything has been said about “Fossil Fuel” and the audience’s relationship in the film can also be applied to“Digger” itself and those watching it.
Iñárritu’s tendency to reject ambiguity and make it explicitly apparent what the metaphor is supposed to mean, especially when he seemingly has more ideas he’s attempting to fit in than the film can hold, remains to be the problem that has been polarizing the viewers. However, while in the past this has come across as directorial immaturity, this Brechtian dark comedy thrives from and even requires this lack of subtlety.
Verdict: In what may be his most ambitious work, Alejandro González Iñárritu offers a cynical lens for the state of the world that the current generation finds themselves in and an even more cynical lens on the impossibility of art to bring about tangible changes.
