Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ Confronts Race, Revolution, and Radicalization

By: Mana Faye

Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated film ‘One Battle after Another’ hits theaters Sept. 26. Featuring a star-studded cast, the movie follows an ex-member of a revolutionary group known as the French 75, surviving off grid with his daughter. Over a decade later, they’ve now taken the names Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), and Willa (Chase Infiniti), after the disbandment of the group, which was caused by the capture and testimony of Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), Willa’s mother. When his enemy, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) resurfaces and kidnaps his 16-year-old daughter, Bob is on the search to find Willa again, as they both face the harsh consequences of the French 75’s past. 

Anderson is no stranger to the box office, and with a staggering budget of $130 million, the almost three-hour film delivers on cinematography, score, comedy, and action, all explored through the themes of race, revolution, and radicalization. 

The French 75 carries echoes of real-world movements like the Black Panthers, born out of the frustration of people demanding justice, often starting with peaceful protest and eventually turning to more radical methods such as bombings and raids. The film mirrors this trajectory, opening with the group smuggling migrants out of an ICE detention center. By refusing to shy away from these extremes, it grounds the French 75 in the reality of historic resistance movements.

The heart of the story also examines the father-daughter bond between Bob and Willa. Their dynamic is laced with generational trauma, with Willa taking on a more parentified role, and by the end of the film, choosing her own path of revolution, while Bob shifts to the role of a supporter. Anderson explores that though trauma is passed down, so is the resistance and possibility of hope. 

Penn’s performance of Lockjaw is probably the film's most layered plot point. His character embodies systemic oppression in both ideology and psychology. His lust for Taylor’s character clashes with his disgust by her Blackness, producing a disturbing yet historically accurate duality: a man aroused by her, but also simultaneously willing to hunt down and kill their potential daughter to erase any evidence of his intimacy with a Black woman. 

This picture may be Andersons’s most interesting commentary on current and past events, and its intense nature had me on the edge of my seat the entire film. The cinematography alone threw you into the intense, messy, and nerve-wracking nature of the plot, and audiences can enjoy Taylor and DiCaprio’s captivating performances. 

One Battle After Another is in theatres September 26.