“Freedom: when you have it, you don't appreciate it, but when you miss it, it's lost.” These words are spoken by Benicio del Toro about halfway through the film. And these words, which lingered in my mind long after I finished the film, clearly refer to the United States today.
One Battle After Another is Paul Thomas Anderson's most overtly political film to date. And his stance is no surprise. It's the most anti-Trump film since Mickey 17 was released earlier this year. And while I quite liked Mickey 17, this one is much better.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writers: Paul Thomas Anderson, Thomas Pynchon
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro
One Battle After Another is in tune with current events. There are ICE-style police raids. There are also white supremacists who detest the idea of sanctuary cities. But there's also a clip from The Battle of Algiers (1966), perhaps the most influential resistance film of all time. There's so much going on. Set primarily in California, the film begins about 17 years before the present, with a revolutionary group called The French 75, led by Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), with Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) not only as her weapons and explosives manager, but also as her boyfriend. (However, Perfidia's mother believes him to be a mere decoy, something unwelcome for her daughter, whom she considers a true revolutionary.)
One Battle After Another begins like "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" on amphetamines. During an attack on a detention center to free refugees, Perfidia accidentally comes into contact with police captain Stephen Lockjaw (Sean Penn), who will play a crucial role not only in her life, but in the lives of anyone associated with the group.
Fast forward to the present, and Perfidia has disappeared, leaving Bob to raise his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) alone. Yes, One Battle After Another is also a father-daughter movie, but not in the traditional sense. One thing you should know about Bob is that he never becomes the white savior in the film. Bob has always enjoyed drinking and drugs, but by the time we see him again, he's become a middle-aged slacker.
Willa is now the adult, though Bob still pretends otherwise. But to Willa's friends, he comes across as a paranoid old man.
So, when things get ugly and Lockjaw reappears to haunt Bob and Willa, as well as the rest of the gang, Bob struggles to find his mojo. Luckily, he gets help from del Toro's character, who is more than just a "sensei" at the martial arts center he runs during the day. There's a hilarious sequence where Bob, by then estranged from Willa, has to call a helpline, but struggles to remember the code he was given many years ago.
The film doesn't gloss over the crimes committed by the French 75. But white elites also have gangs; they just call them clubs with ridiculous names like the Christmas Adventurers, populated by people like Tony Goldwyn, whose (very pleasant) face oozes civilized evil.
Lockjaw wants nothing more than to join the Christmas Adventurers, who will hoard unlimited riches forever, but first he has to take care of the remaining members of the French 75, which involves taking Willa hostage. But for Willa, who clearly takes after her mother, this might be the ultimate coming-of-age challenge.
A colleague at my screening said that the film's climax seemed inspired by Terminator 2, and I think he's right: there are some shots of Sean Penn that are eerily reminiscent of Robert Patrick in James Cameron's masterpiece.
For me, Anderson has a unique talent, but he watches movies like the rest of us and perhaps draws inspiration from them. Some of the film's most extravagant interactions seem inspired by the wild adventures Yorgos Lanthimos presents on screen. There are hints of Scorsese, the Coen brothers, and Tarantino, but throughout, it's a Paul Thomas Anderson film.
Inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, "Inherent Vice," "One Battle After Another" is an incredible adventure. Genre-wise, it's a dark and delicious blend of black comedy, action drama, and crime drama, all seasoned with that indelible sense of cinematic style that PTA brings to every film.
I'm not saying "One Battle After Another" is Anderson's best, but it comes close, and more importantly, it's definitely the Paul Thomas Anderson film we need right now.
And yes, by "we," I mean the kind of creative, liberal, and free-thinking people who can't stand the dangerous turn toward fascism that the United States has recently taken.
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