Why One Battle After Another Should Win the Best Picture Oscar
Paul Thomas Anderson's latest cinematic offering, One Battle After Another, stands as a brawling rebel insider in this year's Oscar race. This state-of-the-nation Hollywood spectacular feels as disunited and unstable as the country it depicts, presenting a film that both hates and loves America in equal measure. It lights a candle to curse the darkness while praying it hasn't accidentally picked up a stick of dynamite instead.
A Political Film for Turbulent Times
Despite director Wim Wenders recently advising fellow filmmakers to "stay out of politics," One Battle After Another is political to its very fingertips. Hard-wired to the here and now, the film perfectly anticipates the tenor of what a potential Donald Trump second term might bring. Freely adapted from Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, Anderson updates the book's jaundiced post-60s hangover for the ICE-age 2020s.
The plot careens from migrant detention camps to sanctuary cities, uncovering a Christian Nationalist cell operating within the US federal government. These self-styled "Christmas Adventurers" are on a heaven-sent mission to make America great again, espousing the belief that "if you want to save the planet, you always start with immigration."
Leonardo DiCaprio's Compelling Performance
Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a compelling performance as Bob, a one-time firebrand turned burnt-out stoner who belatedly hauls himself off the couch when his daughter Willa (played by Chase Infiniti) is captured. DiCaprio's portrayal captures the exhaustion of perpetual struggle, embodying a revolutionary who has lost his appetite for the fight yet finds himself drawn back into the fray.
The film's volatile nature is underscored by Jonny Greenwood's jittery score, which sets a relentless pace. One Battle After Another plays like a melody made from atonal notes—a collection of clashing component parts that somehow create a harmonious whole.
Cartoonish Yet Deadly Serious
While the Golden Globes categorized the film as a comedy—and it certainly contains rambunctious, profane mischief—One Battle After Another remains deadly serious throughout. Sean Penn's Colonel Lockjaw represents a bumptious baddy who appears cartoonish, almost clownish, yet his character reflects real-world figures like Gregory Bovino, the true-life Border Patrol commander who led his goons into Minneapolis.
Anderson suggests that most fascists are clowns easy to laugh at, and that this very quality works in their favor. They use laughter as cover while ordering daughters to be shot dead in the street—a chilling reminder that comedy and tragedy often walk hand in hand.
Beyond Party Politics
One Battle After Another transcends simple party political categorization. While its natural sympathies lie with underdogs and guerrilla fighters for social justice, the film acknowledges that the struggle is exhausting and Sisyphean, with battle lines that have long since blurred. The vexed question of Willa's true parentage echoes Mark Twain's 19th-century novel Pudd'nhead Wilson, exposing how America's red and blue state divide represents a modern version of racist lies.
Anderson presents a marbled, messed-up America where everyone is stirred together. Neither the left nor the right—represented by the French 75 or the Christmas Adventurers—can unmelt the pot or put the genie back in its bottle. The future is mixed, and it looks like Willa.
A Timely Contender
Oscar winners don't necessarily need to be timely, but it certainly helps—especially this year when stakes are extraordinarily high. With too many people scared of speaking up and rocking the boat, and with Warner Bros (the film's backer) poised to be swallowed by Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance, One Battle After Another arrives at precisely the right moment.
While it might not be everyone's favorite Anderson picture (many would point to The Master), and while it faces stiff competition from other best picture nominees like Sinners and The Secret Agent, this film represents a rollicking old-school stars-and-bars epic that feels both lawless and purposeful.
The Last Great American Whale
Hollywood once cranked out sprawling, ambitious productions like this on a semi-regular basis. Today, One Battle After Another looks all but unique—what might be considered the last great American whale of cinematic storytelling. The film insists that despite the slow, sometimes backward-bending arc of history, every effort remains worthwhile, and every small victory is worth one hundred defeats.
The ending proves corny in the same way that Lockjaw is cartoonish—which is to say it's rousing, moving, and ringing with genuine hope. Revolutionaries like Bob, the film suggests, can only take us so far. They struggle, they fail, and then they hand the flame to the next generation. Perhaps their children will do just that little bit better. Maybe they'll take the torch and run with it into a brighter future.
