Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Thriller/
Crime/ Action/ Drama
Runtime: 161
minutes
Year:
2025
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infinity, Regina Hall,
Teyana Taylor
Description: When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a
group of ex-revoltionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
Review: There are few director-screenwriters whose every film is a hit. Think of
Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan. Paul Thomas Anderson certainly belongs
on that list. With the political satire “One Battle After Another”, he adds
another gem to his oeuvre. The film is so compelling and layered that you
hardly notice it last 160 minutes.
Left-wing revolutionary Bob
Ferguson, also know as Ghetto Pat, joins the radical action group French 75 –
named after the explosive cocktail – led by the wild, untamable Perfidia. He
falls for her, and together they begin a passionate relationship. During a liberation
action to free migrants from a detention camp, Perfidia humiliates Colonel
Steven J. Lockjaw, who gets a sexual kick out of it. From that moment on, he
tries to dominate her and believes he succeeds. Later, Bob and Perfidia have a
daughter, Willa, but Perfidia refuses to take on the role of mother.
Sixteen years later, single
father Bob takes care of teenage Willa. All this time, he was a dormant
revolutionary who filled his days with alcohol, drugs and watching old classic
films about revolutions such as Battle of Algiers. When Lockjaw reappears, the
threat flares up again. He wants to join a club of white supremacists who
worship Santa Claus. In order not to jeopardize his membership, Lockjaw must do
everything he can to erase all evidence of sexual contact with a black woman. He
organizes a raid and leads a militia to the place where Bob and Willa are
hiding.
Paul Thomas Anderson is an
intelligent filmmaker who refuses to be put into one genre, always trying
something new and striving for originality and complexity. In that respect, “One
Battle After Another” is no exception to his earlier masterpieces. Anderson was
inspired by the book “Vineland”, the absurdist thriller by Thomas Pynchon.
Anderson’s film is set in
the present and depicts recognizable situations from the current US, but
visually and thematically refers to the 1970s. The whole thing feels both retro
and modern at the same time: as if time has stood still and nothing has
changed.
The film is so rich that you
spend hours analyzing it. On one level, it’s a story about a child caught
between two superegos: one radically left-wing, the other radically right-wing
and extremely racist. On another lever, it is the quest of a disillusioned
father who has lost his way but wants to regain his last shred of humanity –
his daughter. And on yet another level, the films works as a metaphor for a
weary left that must contend with stupid extreme right-wingers and racism.
Anderson provides the
necessary perspective. As a satire, “One Battle After Another” is also rich in
humor. Leonardo DiCaprio is the epitome of wit as Anderson’s version of the
Dude (from “The Big Lebowski”) – bathrobe included. And Sean Penn deserves a
medal for his portrayal of the most hideous and pathetic racist in years.
It is doubtful whether the
whole of the US will embrace it. Despite the highly original car chase, this is
clearly not a work that will appeal to fundamentalist, far-right viewers who
have no sympathy for migrants and those who think differently. This will
probably be my favorite film of the year.
Rating: 5/ 5
