Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ Is a Feverish Ode to Revolution Propelled by a Sensational Leonardo DiCaprio

Alci Rengifo

There is little doubt we are living in increasingly tumultuous times where amid all the socio-political discourse and clashing, some individuals are choosing to exist in the extreme. Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” lives fully within that volatile zone.  For this opus the director finds inspiration in acclaimed author Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel “Vineland.” The Pynchon book is set in 1984 and deals with characters reliving their glory days of rebellion in the 1960s as the country slides further into conservatism. Anderson’s film radically alters the premise to where you can’t call this an adaptation. It is its own raging dystopian adventure set in a world that could be today or the very near future.

Leonardo DiCaprio is perfectly cast as Bob Ferguson, a revolutionary belonging to a militant group calling itself the French 75. We first see the masked radicals as they strike an immigration detention center along the U.S.-Mexico border in the dead of night to liberate migrant captives. Bob’s lover and comrade is Perfidia Beverly Hills (a scorching Teyana Taylor), a charismatic leader who humiliates the camp’s overseer, Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). The experience leaves the racist and fascistic Lockjaw forever obsessed with Perfidia and Bob. After fleeing and continuing their revolutionary activities, Perfidia and Bob have a baby girl. Events soon lead to Perfidia disappearing and 16 years later Bob is being a manic but good father to the now teenage Willa (Chase Infiniti). When Lockjaw is given the opportunity to join an elite club of powerful officials he initiates an operation to hunt down the French 75. One of Perfidia’s old comrades, Deandra (Regina Hall), extracts Willa from a high school dance, leaving Bob scrambling to rendezvous with his daughter, if he can remember all those damn old passcodes.

For Paul Thomas Anderson this is a return to the kind of energetic cinema that marked those great early films like “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia,” combined with the scope of “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master.” It is certainly superior to his previous Pynchon-inspired work, the languid “Inherent Vice.” Anderson has never been a particularly political filmmaker, despite sharp social commentary gracing much of his catalog. His epic about the struggle and rise of an oil man, “There Will Be Blood,” is a stirring epic focused more on character and ambition. “One Battle After Another” is different by openly framing its plot as a band of rag-tag American revolutionaries versus right-wing fascist forces. The members of the French 75 don’t quote any particular ideological role models. Bob is that parent who reminds Willa’s teacher that the school system doesn’t like to remind students the Founding Fathers were rich white slave owners. People like him are driven by the need to rebel against authoritarian figures like Lockjaw. Anderson does nod at the radical past by slyly panning his camera over to Bob’s TV in his rundown secluded home, revealing he’s been getting high while watching “The Battle of Algiers.”

Beyond a partisan movie this is a high adrenaline yarn stripping the idea of being an armed guerrilla from any dreamy romanticism. Bob becomes more likable precisely because he is not a puritanical ideologue. He is into the revolution out of being genuinely caring. When Deandra extracts Willa and Bob calls his old comrades for the rendezvous point, the moment turns into brilliant comedic tension because Bob never cared to remember some nearly 20-year-old passcode the voice on the phone insists they need. He gets more help from Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro), a sensei who doubles as a protector of undocumented workers. The screenplay by Anderson seems to use these personas as a dramatic commentary on a particular form of U.S. radical. Even during the 1960s there was a clear distinction between revolutionary movements in Latin America, for example, where young people under military tyrannies risked their lives to emulate idols like Che Guevara, and U.S. activists who would express solidarity under vastly different conditions. French 75 militants take on codenames like “Jungle Pussy,” though Bob isn’t wrong for scolding a comrade for using such a lame nom de guerre like “Comrade Josh.” Instead of having cold discipline Bob and Sergio speed away evading soldiers while drinking cheap beer.

The urgency of Bob’s odyssey, as Lockjaw’s forces try to close in, is captured with some of Anderson’s trademark virtuoso filmmaking. Cinematographer Michael Bauman, shooting in rich celluloid and emulating the look of ‘70s thrillers, never seems to keep the camera fully still. The lens is a conduit for all the reckless feelings exploding through these personalities. Jonny Greenwood’s music is a pulsating backdrop that gives the images more drive. Do not flinch at the 2 hours and 41 minute runtime. They fly by during exhilarating sequences as when Bob runs through backstreets, Sergio’s dojo and hideouts, desperate to charge his phone while Lockjaw’s men prowl around the city. There is action all over this movie yet it is never gratuitous. Anderson isn’t setting out to make a blood-soaked popcorn distraction. He wants to entertain with a sense of artistry.

If the revolutionaries are lovable burn outs and true believers in a cause, the villains of “One Battle After Another” are brilliant caricatures of conservative fascists. Pynchon as a writer is famous for his playful, satirical language. Anderson stays true to that spirit. Lockjaw is excited to be offered membership in the Christmas Adventurers Club, a group of powerful white men who believe in racial superiority and traditional values. They will not even tolerate the idea that one of their own might have slept with a Black woman at some point in their lives. Sean Penn brilliantly brings his character to life as a stern, stone faced soldier only lacking the important component of being able to think. Absurd ascendancy matters and the revolutionaries are annoying insects to be squashed. During an excellent, tense interrogation scene with Willa, Penn brings out a ferocity we have not seen in his work for a while now. 

For DiCaprio this is some of his best work since “The Wolf of Wall Street.” He carefully balances the mania of the personality with a sense of the sincere love this man has for his daughter. The revolution is important but Willa matters much more. For some revolutionaries the whole point of changing the world is to leave it better for their offspring. The actor, one of the most famous of his generation, also throws in funny ways of playing with his age. Bob calls younger people “homie” and Latinos “ese.” While on the run he tries to keep up with the younger comrades dashing across rooftops and ends up crashing down into a tree. Yet the tears feel genuine when Bob gets desperate to find the most important person in his life. This is one of the year’s best and most fun performances. Chase Infiniti is herself a revelation in this film as well. Her choices have the maturity of a young woman who didn’t choose to grow up in such a bizarre home. Most of us are stuck with the broken pieces of what our parents left behind. For Willa this has broad political implications that derail her personal life.

It would be so easy for a director of the stature of Paul Thomas Anderson to comfortably recede into purely commercial filmmaking. Surely Disney could throw a Marvel movie his way. Yet he insists on making films about subject matter he truly cares about. It is almost a miracle that a major studio would still back a film with an arthouse aesthetic about the very nature of radical living, the violence of fascism and its empty ideals which then all gets tied into the intimate bond between a father and daughter. Anderson isn’t offering any radical solutions to late stage capitalism or the rise of right-wing authoritarianism. It does not need to. As a work of pop art it conjures a fitting fantasy about the spirit of the times. As a society we are clearly feeling like many people are now moving to the margins of opposing sides where anything can happen. Anderson’s film is exhilarating and timely, and one of the best of the year.

“One Battle After Another” releases Sept. 26 in theaters nationwide.