Director Alejandro Inarritu explored performance in Burdman, where the character and the actor sometimes converged to reveal facets of each often hidden in the masks of drama. His new satire, Digger, goes higher to efface the enormous persona of actor Tom Cruise creating a bluff wealthy man, Digger (think Elon Musk), richest oil man in the world, tasked to remedy a climate catastrophe that sees an enormous Arctic glacier’s breaking threaten the world.
This satire, where major characters can be identified as riffs on current world despots, their clammy lieutenants, and irresponsible warriors are amusing in their zeal but dangerous in their execution. Digger is almost crazed in his demand for fealty and admiration, similar to current leaders, and as depicted by Tom Cruise in non-thriller mode quite believable as he endangers the globe in its neglect of the details of diplomacy and family. The explosion on an oil rig that causes a glacier to break off and move toward Europe, delivering a world-threating tsunamis is no small matter either.
Although lines are delivered in stentorian manner, it’s always clear anyway the industrialists are the bad guys and the government the good but ineffectual guys. The film Digger is never subtle about the opposing forces, yet the proletariat remains ignorant and passive, just like today.
The major plot twist is major league as it adds gravitas to the fast-paced, albeit sometimes silly, drama. Digger does not have the humor of Strangelove, nor Peter Sellers for that matter, but it is a wakeup call for climate change and the corrosive power of elites running the show when they have no political savvy. For cinema lovers, it’s nectar.