In movie-loving circles, no film has been anticipated quite as much as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, One Battle After Another. Over the past week, glowing reviews and audience scores have made the film the most highly-awaited of the year. While — like any Paul Thomas Anderson film — One Battle After Another is a technical masterpiece, it’s really its screenplay, and the themes that Anderson has chosen to explore, that make the film one not to be missed.
One Battle After Another follows Leonardo DiCaprio’s Bob (at times known as Pat or, due to his work with explosives on the field, Rocket Man) sixteen years after his prime as a revolutionary in the “French 75,” the group where he met fellow revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). The two fell in love and had a baby, but Perfidia chose to prioritize her work as a revolutionary over staying home to build a family with Bob. After Perfidia was caught and arrested, Bob was forced to flee with a newborn Willa and build a new life in Baktan Cross. Sixteen years later, we find him far removed from his days of planting bombs and liberating immigration detention centers. Bob is now a burnt-out drug addict waiting desperately for the day he is needed again, while Willa (Chase Infiniti), now a teenager, has been forced to grow up too quickly to take care of her irresponsible father. The friction between father and daughter is forgotten when Willa’s life is threatened by Sean Penn’s Steven Lockjaw, a colonel whose dark obsession with Perfidia has led him to hunt the family for years.
The character of Steven Lockjaw allows Anderson to critique the corruption of the United States. Lockjaw’s villainy is supported by the systems he is a part of: the U.S. military, police force and the Christmas Adventurers Club, a secret society of white supremacists, all back his work running immigration detention centers. It is only his personal obsession with Perfidia, who took control of one of his centers years prior, that keeps him from fully joining the ranks of the elite. Here, Anderson unpacks something unexpected. The juxtaposition of Lockjaw’s all-encompassing obsession with Perfidia, a Black revolutionary, against his desperate attempts to gain status with his fellow white supremacists reveals a disturbing dichotomy at play. His deeply personal, perverse fixation on Perfidia and Willa make him a terrifying villain, as Anderson explores what a man is willing to sacrifice to maintain power.
As Bob is forced to reenter the world of violence he left behind, he must also confront the failures of his parenting. Meanwhile, Lockjaw’s twisted need to gain control over first Perfidia and, later, Willa, allows Paul Thomas Anderson to explore the dark side of American society. These dueling narratives — one of a father and daughter torn apart, the other of one-sided obsession — create one of the most thrilling movies of the year. As the audience gets to know Willa, they also learn more about Lockjaw and his history with Perfidia. Just as viewers form a connection with the film’s central characters, they also learn how high the stakes are for Bob and Willia, creating a thick tension that isn’t resolved until the very end of the film.
One Battle After Enough is clearly juggling a multitude of themes, but in its almost 3-hour runtime, Anderson manages to give them each the time they deserve. Anderson’s critique of American society and its institutions is explored to the fullest, without overshadowing the central father-daughter dynamic. Despite all it is trying to say, One Battle After Another never feels too lofty or expository, and in the end, it is the relationship between Bob and Willa that forms the emotional core of the film and makes it worth watching. It is these characters’ abilities to come together and fight for justice despite the corruption and violence that surrounds them that ties these themes together.
To me, One Battle After Another has revealed an interesting disparity between the digital film-fan echochamber and the rest of the world. For the past week, my social media feed has been entirely taken over by the film and its glowing reviews. Box office reports on Saturday made it clear that most audiences still aren’t interested in making time to spend 3 hours in a movie theater. One Battle After Another has been lauded as one of the most important films of the decade, if not the 21st century, and I can’t help but agree. Anderson’s exploration of the danger of fascism feels more timely than ever. I encourage everyone to carve out the time to see One Battle After Another. Paul Thomas Anderson’s dedication to telling the story of a dysfunctional, but loving, family amid endless corruption and violence will give audiences the exact kind of perseverance, and hope, that is necessary to fight for justice.
Nicholas York is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at nay22@cornell.edu.
‘Projections’ is a column focused on reviewing recent film releases. It runs on a weekly basis.
