“One Battle After Another”: A Review
By Jules Nasser
Paul Thomas Anderson, the renowned director of the movies There Will be Blood (2007), Magnolia (1999), and Punch Drunk Love (2002), has once again created a movie that will leave a long lasting mark on all film goers. Anderson was able to create a timeless piece that incorporates political ideas along with elements of film that allow for an enjoyable viewing.
In One Battle After Another, Paul allows for a beautifully visual war drama to convey ideas with a balance of battle sequences and deep emotions. The film follows the main characters, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti as they are forced back into their old lifestyle to revolt against a corrupt military officer, Sean Penn. This is Paul Thomas Anderson’s most action-driven film yet, but still contains many of his recognizable traits, through the car chases and shootouts that reflect the character’s psychology (paranoia, panic, etc…) to the reworked version of a common genre, as had been done before in There Will Be Blood.
The special aspect about this film is not simply the visual language used, including the ruins with a deep depth of field, smoke filled skies, and large landscape that dominate the frame, which allows for a tension filled atmosphere. This choice also works as a thematic backdrop to convey war and the loneliness and cost of it to humans. Additionally, the film’s plot line does not simply follow a linear model, with one main issue, but has many interconnected conflicts. The core of the movie is still clear despite this, and the story of the father (Leonardo Dicaprio) and the daughter (Chase Infiniti) is an emotional and moving story, with connection to the audience. This now only allows for a more enjoyable viewing, but also translates the idea that war is not only a physical struggle but also an emotional one. On a more technical aspect, Anderson used VistaVision, a high-resolution, widescreen 35 mm cinematography format notable for running film horizontally (8-perforations per frame) to produce a larger negative with superior detail and reduced grain. This addition allows for large negative and overwhelming spatial density, making the world feel surveilled and unstable, creating once more a high sense of tension. Overall, Anderson was highly successful in tension building in the film through many different aspects.
For those who have watched the film, one scene stands out the most: the last car chase in the hills. This scene is not simply cinematographically beautiful, but also is a message for there being “nowhere to hide”, a political and emotional idea. On the topic of political messages, One Battle After Another has many aspects that portray issues similar to immigration, fascism, and state power, but without fully explaining them. Although in my opinion I believe that the film could have expanded a bit more on this very present problem, this incompleteness is intentional and Anderson says it is a cinematic choice showing that power is something omnipresent, not something fully understood or controlled. However, an aspect I do admire about this film is the incorporation of dark-comedy, with the humor in forgotten codes, personality traits (especially in the Sensei, played by Benicio del Toro), and absurd organizations, contrasting the intensity of politics. Lastly, the film suggests that political movements may fail, but responsibility passes on forever, as shown when Willa inherits the choice to revolt, just as her parents once did.
On a more technical note, the film’s pacing is one of its strongest elements. The storyline moves from one battle to the next, with a consistent momentum that also still shows character development. Anderson does not only have action scenes though, and often incorporates more quiet scenes (for example, the solitary tree) to allow for a break and for the audience to reflect on the aftermath of conflict. His recurring stylistic choices that have been seen in his other films also happen in this one, with the aerial shots that convey the larger scale of war and the close-ups that show the emotional consequences for each individual. This choice conveys a deeper message and connection to real-life. In this film, muted color palettes also are the main colors in the battle scenes, containing red and gold in violence or issues in humanity. With this pattern, a beautiful scene is created, elevating it from any other war story.
In conclusion, One Battle After Another is a modern composition of war, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s pacing, messages of the consequences formed from conflict, and more. The only aspect that I personally think could be changed is the depth of the political ideologies, but other than this, the film succeeds in creating a memorable and impactful experience, with its lesson on rebellion against wrongdoing and also its cinematic choices.
