One Battle After Another Review - A Modern, Masterful & Sweeping Epic

Chase Gifford
Sep 25
5 min read

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” - John F. Kennedy

Talent is attainable no matter the person. The degree of which of course varies from person to person. Through hard work, study and practice, skills can set in and even be perfected over time. And then there are those who are generational talents. These are the people in their field who possess an innate talent. They have the intangibles that elevate their craft on a substantial and sustained level. They are born with something that simply cannot be taught or measured.

In the world of filmmaking, this can be directors, cinematographers, editors, composers, and of course actors. But sticking to behind the camera, when thinking of composers who fit this criteria, I immediately think of John Williams. His influence on the medium is undeniable and forever cemented in the annals of cinematic history. With editors I think of Thelma Schoonmaker, the longtime collaborator of Martin Scorsese who have worked together for every single film he has directed since 1980s Raging Bull.

If you ask me about cinematographers, I instantly turn to who I believe to be the best cinematographer that has ever lived, Roger Deakins. His work is vibrant, endlessly creative, and totally unparalleled. And to my entire point, directors. Scorsese, as I mentioned earlier, is a generational talent. Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Steven Spielberg, and David Fincher to name a few.

Paul Thomas Anderson, director of such significant efforts like Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, and perhaps his newest, possibly most ambitious and phenomenally explosive effort yet, One Battle After Another are shining examples that he belongs among the best to ever do it. I think first and foremost, he is a creator that refuses to be contained within any one genre. He has a playful tenacity to his stylistic choices including intentional tracking shots, revealing close-ups, and an unmistakable melodic melding of score and image. He does this to create emotionally resonant as well as intellectually powerful narratives.

He often uses themes of loneliness, alienation, the search for identity, and the intricacies of dysfunctional families. His characters are flawed, morally ambiguous but often relatable people who struggle with love, regret, and a search for meaning in an otherwise tumultuous world. In the case of One Battle After Another, he explores the influence parents can have on their children, often negative, irreparable, even damaging influence. His characters tend to be destructive, either physically, emotionally or both. But he’s not above finding the silver lining for his characters, choosing to sometimes give them redemption. Even if the film can take a more pessimistic vantage point, it doesn’t mean his characters are subservient to its more cynical ideologies.

For example, One Battle After Another features morally bankrupt antagonists who not only want to destroy any semblance of a revolution, their motivations are for a so-called purification of the United States. When it becomes obvious that one of their own may have violated this ideology all hell breaks loose. Despite their abhorrent behavior and shameful belief system many of them never face the justice they so rightly deserve. It’s a stark reminder that evil doesn’t always lose as it should. On the other side of the coin is a group of hostile revolutionaries that can absolutely be described as domestic terrorists. They may mean well, their intentions might be for the betterment of their country and its people but their methods are chaotic, violent, and morally in a gray area.

One Battle After Another is a story of a frenzied civil war featuring a group of revolutionaries fighting for the immigrant people being locked in cages as well as archaic legislation designed to subjugate its own people. Drawing the line is the U.S. government being blindly led by militant psychopaths with an axe to grind with some of the members of the opposition. Bob is a prominent figure in the French 75, an underground resistance group that resorts to political violence during a revolutionary movement spanning decades.

During the height of the violence, his fellow resistance fighter and lover, Perfidia, has given birth to their child. Perfidia resents the child and sees her baby girl as a hindrance in their fight. So she abandons them, leaving Bob to care for their little girl, Willa, all by himself. Years pass and Willa grows into a young woman, capable, tough but still naive and blind to many things that aim to destroy her family, however dysfunctional it may be. Now just a paranoid father, Bob spends his days fighting the attitude of a disgruntled teenager. But history has a way of coming back when we least expect it. And that history is about to cause total and absolute havoc in every aspect of their now quiet lives. Bob may have quit the resistance, but the fight was never over. And now, his daughter is in the middle of it all.

This film is beautifully defeatist but never abandons the idea of absolution. Even for its most complex and morally enigmatic characters. Leonardo DiCaprio is hilariously inept at times but always determined and consistently engaging in his quest to protect his only true saving grace. Sean Penn is maniacal and easily detestable. He is a force of hateful, unrelenting aggression that is haunting in its timeliness as we face a wave of unmitigated ignorance and abhorrence toward the innocent and vulnerable in our country. He is a walking manifestation of that blind, unjustifiable hatred. The heart of the film is newcomer Chase Infiniti who plays Willa. She gives a powerhouse performance outshining the likes of DiCaprio, Del Toro and Penn. She shines with tenacity and angst that manifests itself through tremendous physicality and emotional resonance. She will become well known this awards season.

One Battle After Another is a masterful telling of chaotic revolution and moral ambiguity in the face of great, seemingly insurmountable odds. It faces timely issues such as immigration, racism, xenophobia and unchecked white supremacy. And despite its hyper-serious plot points and themes, it still manages to be quite funny, darkly so but still hilarious. It’s pessimistic, redemptive and sweeping across time, ideologies, and familial transgressions.

It features award worthy performances, unbelievably gorgeous and sometimes manic cinematography that puts you scarily in the middle of the mayhem. It is a vigorous, relentless action thrill ride that always keeps its characters and their desires at the forefront of the story. It’s guided by pristine editing allowing for a film that clocks in at nearly three hours to completely fly by effortlessly. The cast is brilliant in all facets and together they are unmatched. Paul Thomas Anderson once again proves why his name is mentioned among the greats. Without attempting to be grandiose or hyperbolic, simply put, One Battle After Another is one of the best films of the year.