Actor Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon in the satire Digger — Taipei Times

In the climate satire Digger, Tom Cruise plays oil tycoon Digger Rockwell, whom US President Compson and his cabinet approach with a plan. As Taipei Times reports, Cruise’s character must find a way to save the world after an ice shelf nicknamed Judy breaks away from Greenland.

The shelf, which is five times larger than Washington, DC, is moving toward Europe, and its approach, according to the film’s forecast, could cause catastrophic destruction. Scientists are concerned about a crack in the glacier and methane leaking from the seabed near a large oil platform in Greenland. At the same time, Rockwell insists on increasing the daily volume of oil production.

The oil tycoon and the US president

Rockwell lives in a luxurious house with wood paneling, antlers, taxidermy mounts and polar bear-skin rugs. He is proud of the shovel with which his grandfather started the family oil business. When the situation with the shelf worsens, Compson, played by John Goodman, and members of his cabinet arrive at the tycoon’s home.

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Reese Ahmed also plays the scientist Ganesh, toward whom Rockwell unexpectedly begins to feel favorably inclined. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki shot the film in VistaVision format, which, in the publication’s assessment, gives the scenes a grand and carnivalesque appearance.

Oil and the limits of satire

Rockwell appears before a body resembling the UN, where he defends oil, calling it “Mother Earth’s milk.” He raises the question of whether the world was ready to do without it. In the second half of the film, as Taipei Times notes, the story takes on an apocalyptic character.

Digger employs a metatheatrical device: at an early stage, the viewer learns that what is being seen is a performance. According to the publication’s assessment, this structure raises questions about the value of satire and the limits of artistic fiction, while Cruise’s acting shifts from caricature to darker tones.