‘One Battle After Another’: Provocative, engaging

This film is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel ‘Vineland’ and is a timely and uncharacteristically real-world epic from Paul Thomas Anderson. It concerns itself with radicalism in America getting systematically unbound by fascist ideology.

The film theorises about a fictional revolutionary movement in the US. It is also a story of resistance against injustice and evil. And it all comes together in a package that draws parallels with contemporary disturbances and pure race politics.

French 75, a revolutionary group led by Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), initiates an operation on the Mexico-US border, taking officers hostage while releasing immigrants awaiting processing. Perfidia sexually humiliates the leader, Col Steven J Lockjaw (Sean Penn), and this leads to Lockjaw getting obsessed with Perfidia.

He starts stalking her as she continues to lead the resistance with her partner, Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

The narrative then takes a time leap. Sixteen years later, Lockjaw remains obsessed but Perfidia is no longer there and it’s Bob and their teenaged daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) that he is after now. He conducts a series of raids on the remaining French 75 members who are not so active anymore. Perfidia’s former ally, Deandra (Regina Hall), tries to get Willa to safety, while Bob takes the help of sensei Sergio St Carlos (Benicio del Toro) to avoid Lockjaw’s troops.

Anderson’s screenplay sets up this experience in an intensely engaging and propulsive way. The tempo is jittery and unsettling while the racy pace increments the breathlessness of the whole experience. Camerawork is unshowy but has exemplary form. A few painterly flashes glide through a largely workman-like set-up that focuses on fascinating character work. The close-ups showcase an intimacy that is intriguing. The background score aids the experience.

DiCaprio gives a perfectly calibrated performance as an explosives expert working with a faction of revolutionaries. Taylor as the passionate advocate of gender rights and Black liberation, Del Toro as the martial arts-instructor-turned-revolutionary, and Regina Hall make their presence felt but it’s Sean Penn who is able to juice his character to the last drop. He makes the ridiculous look fascinatingly real.

Anderson makes us care about these characters, their frustrations and the dilemmas they face. They have to keep fighting even when they have resigned from their revolutionary ideals.

The tense actioner keeps churning incredible moments. It makes us think of the chaos brought on by modern personality and race-oriented politics, and how it undermines humanity. The narrative here is such that from the first moment to the last, you are so enraptured, it is hard to take your eyes off the screen.

The film brings hope to the marginalised sections being attacked and demeaned throughout the world. It’s provocative, engaging and an imminently persuasive work of fiction.