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‘Digger’: Evaluating Reality
Borders, a pyramid of dead bodies, the paranoic mind, and finding hope
FULL SPOILERS FOR ‘DIGGER’, ‘BARDO, FALSE CHRONICLE OF A HANDFUL OF TRUTHS’, ‘FAIL SAFE’, AND ‘DR. STRANGELOVE’
A Thought about ‘Digger’
As I watched ‘Digger’ I had a thought.
I loved the film. I loved the performances of Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, and Jesse Plemons. I loved the soundtrack by Cosmo Sheldrake. I loved the writing by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman. And of course I loved the direction by Iñárritu, and yet I had a thought.
As much as I loved its ruminations on the nature of art and its place in the world around us, there was something that bothered me about it all. The critique laced through the fabric of ‘Digger’ is either genius or troubling, and that has all to do with the glaring lack of colonialism within the film. For as much as it is a sharp analysis, and takedown, of capitalism and neoliberalism (without ever naming the two, mind you) it never mentions or even alludes to colonialism.
Colonialism is the boogeyman hiding in the shadows which never comes out, because it was forgotten by the film. ‘Digger’ was all about the damage done to…
