Is "One Battle After Another" Anti-revolutionary?

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR “ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER”

An incredible film, definitely worth watching, so please check it out!

Awards season has been, and will likely continue to be, largely dominated by one film: Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and this film is, in my mind, an incredible film with some flaws and an interesting/unique rhetoric. I’d like to preface this peice with the statement that I do believe the film portrays a harmful and dangerous sterotype of black women in its opening act, but what it ends up doing with that character, in my eyes, makes up for it, I am not black so i cannot speak to the feelings of black people on this portayal, but I find Perifidia’s character to be a commentary on a subset of leftists who arent truly working for change, but who are working for themselevs and truly just want psuedo-fascist power for themselevs, left fascists, to an extent. I interpret Perfidia and Lockjaw as being two sides of the same coin. Lockjaw is a fascist on the far right, who doesn’t fully believe the things he claims to but wants power. I think that Perfidia is meant to be viewed in largely the same way. There is also some subtext of postpartum depression, but I don’t fully understand that, so I won’t get into it. If any of you have read the original text this film is adapted from—Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland—you know the character perfidia is based on has a very obvious appreciation for fascism, but is also not a black woman. The changing of Perfidia to a black woman is my issue with the portrayal, more so than the ideas, but I also think the changed story works better for PTA’s means of showing Lockjaw as a charlatan. Even Perfidia’s sexual actions toward Lockjaw are, in my eyes, meant to portray her as power hungry, and having this want for power and control, which is the reason for those sequences. Both Perfidia and Lockjaw are power-hungry charlatans who will abandon all else in this pursuit. There is a lot wrong with this portrayal and how it stereotypes black women, and the dialogue could have been better written, but I do think it works well enough in the end. There was a better route here of keeping Perfidia’s character as a white woman and showing Lockjaw’s obsession with black women in another way, but I understand the choice made nonetheless, and do think it works to the story’s benifit

Anyways, into further analysis, I think there are two additional reasons this film is not “Anti-Revolution”. This film is to me about the battle between an old guard and their means of resistance and revolution, and the next generation’s different take. The violent and paranoid way in which the French 75 lived is very different from the way Willa and her friends act, and both are political actors. Willa’s friends being introduced with a pronouns joke felt very intentional to me. And Willa’s ending, where she goes to a protest, is also very intentional; it feels to me as a passing of the torch to the next generation. It’s not up to the last generation of failed revolutionaries to figure out what happens now, It’s up to us. To you and me. Not our parents and grandparents, but us. Because we have to live with it.

Additionally, the portrayal of Benicio Del Toro’s Sensei— Easily my favorite character in the film, and a hopeful best supporting actor at the Oscars— Is another form of modern revolutionary, a new form of revolution, of making change. But this one works, at least temporarily. Sensei’s harboring of all the undocumented people and his wifes “Latina Harriet Tubman” Is a modern push for a better world, a better system. They are resisting, not in the flashy, violent, and made for the newspapers way of the French 75, But in a way that genuinely helps the people who need us. That is what leftist politics are truly about, it’s why I do the organizing I do, I want to help people. I dont want to be famous or powerful, I dont think most leftists do, but Some do, that is who perfidia is supposed to represent, and Sensei is meant to represent the rest of us, doing this for the greater good.

Finally, there’s one pretty important character played by a certain white guy with weird dating habits I haven’t gotten to just yet. Bob Newby represents the person who has been doing this, for themselves, for a long ass fucking time, and has had minimal success, the person who has all but given up. Bob is the old guard of revolutionary politics, but he’s also the tired dad doing his best. (or well… doing… something) But when Willa is taken, he begins to rise to the occasion, and we see what he used to be, we see the power these people still have. The point of Bob is that the old guard still has a place, while it may not be on the front lines, they must still do the work, and we definitely need them. If it were not for Bernie, for example, we would not have AOC or Zohran. I think Bernie should retire from the Senate and breed a successor, but I also know that does not mean we are done with Bernie; he is the most well-known leftist politician in America, and we still need him. I think Bob is much the same, he is a more mature, more experienced, and more developed leader who can teach Willa what she needs to learn in order to be successful.

In all, I think this film truly captures what life is like in Donald Trump’s America. I mean, the opening shot is a black woman walking over a detention center. it’s an excellently shot and written film, with an excellent cast and incredible performances from everyone. DiCaprio acted his ass off, as did Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, and everyone else. An extra special shoutout to Chase Infiniti in her first? feature film role. It’s an excellent film with a lot to say about the state of our country, about the real motivations of the evil men in charge, and much more.
I’ve only seen two PTA films, but this is definitely my favorite and, dare I say, one of his best pieces.

Give this film best picture already.

VIVA LA REVOLUCION BABY!!!

Till Next Time,

Aarav