Revolutionaries, immigrants and demons
Javier Solórzano Casarin
Paul Thomas Anderson (born 1970, Studio City, California) is one of Hollywood’s last auteur filmmakers. He is one of the few writers/directors in cinema today who carries out his personal vision to its last consequences. There is no room for complacency or compromise with the political and commercial interests of the industry. Here we have a true filmmaker whose most fervent desire is to tell stories, create unforgettable characters, and provoke deep reflection in the audience. He wants that audience to ask themselves the most revealing questions about the human condition. In today’s entertainment there are few things as rewarding as enjoying his work.
Anderson’s career, beginning with his stunning debut in 1996 with Sydney (eventually titled Hard Eight), has been nothing short of legendary. Recognized as one of the great American directors of the 1990s, his films have challenged the norms and conventions of contemporary cinema. All are highly original and distinct from one another. One of his great talents is having defined a very particular style, very much his own, but one that never repeats itself.
Paul Thomas Anderson is an artist who is constantly exploring new horizons in the medium of film and he is always breaking everybody’s expectations.
His new film, One Battle After Another (2025), once again lurches us into totally unexpected, fascinating places and situations. It confronts us with ourselves, forcing us once again to ask questions about our volatile and incomprehensible nature.
Set in our unfortunate and chaotic present, the plot follows a group of young revolutionaries called “The French 75” (no reference is ever made to why they are called this) who fight against the human rights crisis that affects particularly immigrants in the United States.
“The French 75” coordinates a series of attacks against a government that promotes and finances military actions against minorities and vulnerable groups. Its fierce leader, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), acts with unwavering conviction and a clear pleasure in humiliating the enemy. Accompanied by her unit and her faithful and devoted partner Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), the guerrilla group carries out these attacks with unwavering self-determination. In their free time, they practice brotherly love and inhibited sex.
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In the midst of a raid on a immigrant camp, Perfidia makes an enemy of the fanatical Sergeant Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Lockjaw becomes obsessed with her and pursuits her and the group. Things get even more complicated when Perfidia and Bob have a daughter; for her, the notion of establishing a traditional family clashes with her deep-rooted revolutionary ideals. In a botched operation, she makes a serious mistake and is forced to flee from the authorities. The dominoes fall and the group disintegrates completely. Sixteen years later, Bob, under a new identity, is raising his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) alone. Revolutionary life seems to be a thing of the past, but when Lockjaw returns, they are forced to flee once again.
Wrapped inside various genres — action, dark comedy, political thriller, and drama — Anderson’s film explores a wide range of themes, but at its core he portrays: what is the sense of community, the immigrants’ current turmoil and a moving father-daughter relationship. The latter, played to perfection by DiCaprio (in another brilliant performance) and Infiniti (in her film debut, is a revelation).
Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland (1990), Anderson wrote this film with the desire to talk about family archetypes, the complex relationships between men and women, fathers and daughters, and between our contemporaries, separated by that dividing line marred by social and racial prejudices. The soul of One Battle After Another lies in the search for that old forgotten human value, the ability to see and recognize each other as human beings, and in a love story, imperfect like all others, between Bob and his daughter Willa as they try to make sense of an existence scarred by a violent past. In the films’ connecting tissue, Anderson also tells us about what Latin American immigrants in the United States are experiencing today; their perpetual status of being persecuted, singled out, humiliated, and used as some kind of guinea pig to exorcise the economic and social problems of present day America.
Perfidia, Bob, and the the rest of the revolutionaries are inspired to fight because of this current state of affairs. They are not saints but their hearts are undoubtedly in the right place, and they believe it is their duty not to stand idly by but to fight to defend those most in need. This introduces another narrative element, the concept of community, something that no one knows better than Latinos. Another endearing characters is Sergio St. Clair (Benicio del Toro, one of the great actors of our time). A man who appears distant from the events that shape the plot, but whose role is ultimately much more relevant. He represents that same ideal: “in the community, you are one of many, and your duty is to others before yourself.” These are emotional passages in the film, but under Anderson’s guidance, illustrated with a extra ingredient of a wonderful sense of humor.
Sergeant Lockjaw and his own personal tragedy is the other side of the coin, it underlines the old creed — unfortunately more relevant than ever — held by a large part of the American population, mainly white Anglo-Saxons, that skin color and ethnic origins determine who is superior and who is inferior. Once again, Anderson portrays this with equal measures of gravity and a delightful incisive humor that only he is capable of.
Sean Penn, in his best performance in years, impeccably draws that fine line between caricature and monstrosity.
There is so much to see and listen to in Anderson’s new film: the performances, Teyana Taylor is another stand out; Michael Bauman’s cinematography (which finds the epic in the intimate and the intimate in the epic), Johnny Greenwood’s music (always more than capable of finding musical expression to draw out Anderson’s wildest ideas), and one of the best car chases in recent years.
Paul Thomas Anderson has once again invited us to experience and dream to the far reaches of our imagination. It is undeniable that in the end this cinematic adventure grants us with something we will never forget.
