The Paw Print

By Kieran Blake, Editor-in-Chief

★★★★

“One Battle After Another” is Paul Thomas Anderson’s relentless, politically charged tale of racism and revolution in a modern American dystopia. If there was ever a film that constituted a prescient warning and scathing criticism of where American sociopolitical life is heading, it is this one.

“One Battle After Another” starts off by introducing us to two revolutionary lovers—“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills—committing acts of domestic terrorism in their fight against the machine in modern California. We are also introduced to the despicably sexist and racist military man Capt. Steven J. Lockjaw, who ultimately convinces a now-captured Perfidia to rat out her fellow revolutionaries in exchange for his love and her freedom. A now-compromised Calhoun flees with his newborn daughter, Charlene, and Perfidia leaves Lockjaw behind to go on the run herself.

Sixteen years later, Calhoun and Charlene live under the names Bob and Willa Ferguson in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross. Lockjaw, now a colonel, oversees a campaign to “purify” America by targeting immigrants and minorities. Willa has grown frustrated with her paranoid, overprotective, drug-addicted father who cares deeply about her safety. Their lives are upended when Lockjaw suddenly orders his forces to hunt them down, forcing them to run as the world around them burns.

“One Battle After Another” is far from subtle in its parallels to the current political climate—many of which are eerily accurate. As ICE agents raid immigrant communities and the president portrays minorities as “criminals and rapists,” one would be forgiven for thinking Anderson directed this film in direct response—but “One Battle After Another” finished filming in July 2024. When Lockjaw’s forces spark protests and all out chaos in Baktan Cross, I could not help but think of the protests against ICE and the national guard in Los Angeles this past year. The immigrant children sitting in caged enclosures were obviously representative of Donald Trump’s first term, but they also drew striking comparisons to “Alligator Alcatraz” and similar detention facilities. The Christmas Adventurers’ focus on “racial purity” bears a striking resemblance to the far-right rhetoric and policies of today.

But “One Battle After Another” is not just Paul Thomas Anderson’s political statement—it is also a story about family. Bob’s relentless drive to find his missing daughter and their strained relationship form a centerpiece of the film. This film is one that tugs at your emotional heartstrings with its heartfelt and brutally honest portrayal of a father trying to protect his rapidly growing daughter in a rapidly changing world. While the backdrop is one of political upheaval, this emotion-driven tale of father and daughter is the film’s heart and soul.

Anderson also incorporates many homages to past revolutionary art in this film. The use of Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970 spoken-word piece “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” as the revolutionary guerilla group’s code is a masterstroke that underscores the film’s central themes. Having Bob watch the legendary 1966 political thriller and war film “The Battle of Algiers” right before his home is raided by Lockjaw and his men is also an ingenious homage. (I for one was wondering if Bob was hiding in the walls just as the revolutionaries of “The Battle of Algiers” did.) Lockjaw himself mirrors the vile Colonel Mathieu in “The Battle of Algiers” in “One Battle After Another,” with both using questionable, inhumane tactics to hunt down revolutionaries.

As for the quality of the film itself, if “One Battle After Another” does not net Paul Thomas Anderson his long-elusive Oscar, I am not sure what will. The film is such a remarkable and relevant film that it feels as though it has to be one of the top contenders for Best Picture next year. Anderson delicately crafts a reality that seems so distant yet so disturbingly close in terms of the political state of America, and his direction masterfully constructs an intense and exhilarating atmosphere. Anderson’s screenplay is also brilliant, laying the foundation for an entertaining and simultaneously compelling narrative.

The performances are exceptional across the board. Leonardo DiCaprio especially gives one of the best performances of his illustrious career as a broken father desperately trying to save his daughter from the demons of his past. Sean Penn is chilling as the bigoted Lockjaw, embodying the fervent white nationalism that has permeated among the American right. Benicio Del Toro serves as both comedic relief and an inspirational good samaritan in an America whose leaders despise people like him (those who choose to aid persecuted immigrants), and Teyana Taylor is a force to be reckoned with in her brief time on screen as Perfidia. Chase Infiniti shines in her feature film debut as Willa, and Regina Hall is also solid as Deandra, Willa’s rescuer.

“One Battle After Another” is also an impressive technical achievement. The cinematography is outstanding, the sound work is impeccable and the score is essential to guiding the audience through an emotional and intense journey. The soundtrack fits with the film so very well, and the production design creates a visually captivating world. “One Battle After Another” is a gripping, immersive experience from start to finish.

Of the hundreds of films I have watched in my lifetime, “One Battle After Another” truly stands out. Watching Paul Thomas Anderson’s political and social commentary and family drama was a theater experience like no other. As I sat down in the theater, my seat reclined at an angle guiding my eyes directly toward the screen, I was sucked into a world that seemed so insane and out of touch, yet so eerily familiar and far from unattainable—a world where freedom of speech, racial equity and basic humanity are treated as threats to American society.