I don’t think I realized how truly divisive a filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu was before prepping to write this article. I mean, he’s one of the most decorated Mexican filmmakers in history, with four Academy Awards, three BAFTAs, four Golden Globes and a win for Best Director at Cannes, but it seems like most of his movies eventually suffer from some sort of backlash. Because I am a man of apparently limitless free time, I decided to watch Iñárritu’s films chronologically before the release of his already massively divisive new film (and box office flop), “Digger.”
I don’t want to dive (dig?) too deeply because there is only room for so many words on these pages, but I definitely learned a few things about movies while watching Iñárritu’s filmography. His first three films, “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams” and “Babel” make up a thematically connected triptych he calls his “Trilogy of Death,” which uses nonlinear storytelling and an intertwining narrative structure to tell the stories of several disparate characters as their lives intersect in ways both beautiful and harrowing. While “Amores Perros” is still one of the most electrifying film debuts in history, combined with the near-identical structures and thematic weight of “Babel” and “21 Grams,” this period makes Iñárritu feel like a one-note filmmaker, pounding home again and again that the world is vast, ugly and beautiful at the same time, with no upper limit to the breadth of its cruelty. While he may call it his “Trilogy of Death,” I think I have to call it his “Miserabilist Trilogy,” a powerfully made triplet of films I will never watch again.
While 2010’s “Biutiful,” is also a profoundly depressing piece of work, Javier Bardem gives one of the greatest performances ever captured on film, and there’s this glimmer of luminous humanism behind all the trauma that makes it more palatable.
“Birdman” sees Iñárritu try and discover a sense of humor and then somehow end up more self-serious than ever before. Still, as a recovering theater kid, I love it unreservedly.
Within 50 years, will be one of the most recognized, maybe even respected satires of the suicidal hubris of late-stage capitalism of our generation.
“The Revenant” got Leo his acting Oscar and Iñárritu a slew of awards. It’s a technical marvel, but doesn’t generate much emotional resonance or stay firmly lodged in the brain as a memorable piece of cinema.
“Bardo” is another beautifully directed and ultimately forgettable exercise in flashy, technically jaw-dropping filmmaking.
Watching all of these films in such a short window of time made me realize something key about Iñárritu as a filmmaker: His work with his editors, cinematographers and sound designers is second to none, making even the worst of his films feel like a sensory experience designed to place the viewers directly inside his meticulously crafted worlds. At least “Birdman” aside, it’s almost like they’re designed for single-use viewing. I’ll never watch any of these movies again, but I’m glad I was able to experience them once.
With Iñárritu’s newest, “Digger,” we have something entirely different. A howlingly angry attack on the politicians who spitefully whistle their way through the graveyard as they find new ways to destroy the climate, individual freedoms and humanity as a whole. It’s a movie that spits in the face of those who light the atmosphere on fire and then make millions proclaiming that the sky is falling. “Digger” is an obvious, unsubtle, ridiculous screed about the stupidity of humanity and, within 50 years, will be one of the most recognized, maybe even respected satires of the suicidal hubris of late-stage capitalism of our generation.
The trailers don’t show what the actual structure and narrative of this film are, and I don’t want to spoil it here, but I will say that the majority of people who see this will despise it. “Digger” will be much too weird for a general audience and nowhere near weird enough for critics and cinephiles like me. Tom Cruise chews the screen to pieces as Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon whose aggressive oil extraction in Greenland has dislodged an ice shelf the size of Maryland, leading to a possible extinction-level event. Cruise will escape unscathed from this.
That’s only a small piece of what the film is actually about, as there are also layers of meta-storytelling, monologues-on-monologues that turn all the subtext into actual text and a righteousness that is somehow both off-putting and completely justified. With this and with Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17,” we have international filmmakers loudly exclaiming that America doesn’t deserve subtle satire, because we wouldn’t understand it if they made it. I can’t disagree with that in the slightest. We deserve a roasting at this point in our history. We certainly don’t deserve subtlety, and aside from people who dissect film for a living and you blessed cinephiles, most people don’t care enough to try and understand difficult messages and themes.
But why are we loudly exclaiming that satire needs to be subtle in this year of our lord 2026? “Dr. Strangelove” doesn’t have a subtle bone in its body, bouncing between satire and farce like Mel Brooks could only dream. “Network” is arguably one of the finest, most groundbreaking satires in history and spells out its themes furiously. To earn subtle cinema, we have to prove our intelligence as a society. But obviousness doesn’t always mean simplicity, either.
Is “Digger” a good movie? Yeah, there’s something in there that’s pure and righteous and brilliant. It’s also an overindulgent mess that marries Iñárritu’s worst instincts as a storyteller with his best ones as a filmmaker. Regardless, I know it must be one of his best works because I will definitely watch it again, if only to understand exactly what he’s trying to say and why he is saying it in exactly the way he is.
The conversations around the movie might one day be more interesting than the movie itself, but that’s OK. For now, it’s what we deserve.
“Digger”
Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Grade: B-
Now Playing at Regal Old Mill, Sisters Movie House, Redmond Cinema, Madras Cinema 5.
This article appears in the Source October 8, 2026.
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