One Battle After Another shows what commitment looks like

Such a fitting title, One Battle after Another. One reason I enjoyed this film so much is it takes modern day problems and presents them through a 1970s lens using cinematography, close spaces, and automobiles that take us back to the era. The film stars Teyana Taylor of A Thousand and One, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sean Penn in a gripping, moving story about an activist determined to right injustices through action rather than words, and a colonel just as determined to get his way.

The film opens with Perfidia (Taylor) walking intentionally across a bridge and peering down into what appears to be some type of encampment below. She quickly meets up with about six others, where together they strategize an attack on the area. When Perfidia’s partner, Bob (DiCaprio), asks her what she wants him to do, she instructs him to "create a show” when she gives him the signal. 

All quickly retreat to their cars, drive a short distance, and quietly enter a gated area holding heavy duty rifles, and taking care of anyone who gets in their way. Perfidia encounters a sleeping Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Penn), who oversees what turns out to be a holding camp for undocumented immigrants. She puts the weapon in his face, wakes him, emphatically introduces herself, “Wake up, soldier boy. You died and went to p***** heaven, motherf*****,” and eventually subdues him without laying a finger on him. Incensed, he assures her that he will see her again. The group then releases the immigrants, loads them into trucks, and drives away.

This 161-minute film wastes no time pulling you into the story. Immediately, you are intrigued by Perfidia, a tough, late twenty-something who seems to fear nothing and is willing to risk her life to stand on principle. Where did such fearlessness and commitment come from? We get hints from this later in the film when her grandmother asks Bob where he came from and tells him he is not tough enough for Perfidia, adding that she comes from “a long line of revolutionaries.”

When a small group of the racially diverse French 75 crew execute a mission to plant bombs in a federal building, Perfidia is encountered by Colonel Lockjaw, who surprisingly tells her that he wouldn’t stop her from doing whatever she was doing, if she meets him later. After only a momentary pause, she continues planting the bomb and proceeds to leave, all while Lockjaw lustfully watches her walk away.

Perfidia’s lack of change in facial expression or body language not only indicated that she was undeterred by Lockjaw’s demand, but that nothing, even sleeping with the enemy, would keep her from what seemed to be a personal commitment to right the wrongs for problems that many of us feel powerless to effect. Think of the times where we shook our heads or shrugged our shoulders, as if to say “What are you gonna do?” or “He’s the boss” or “They’re in the chair.” Clearly, Perfidia is neither a head-shaker nor a shrugger. She feels empowered and has embarked on a path that suggests she is fully committed to the cause.

Bob is dismayed when Perfidia doesn’t pull back while she is pregnant nor even after the baby arrives. Many people, once learning they are having a child, become introspective and consider adjustments they must make to provide a stable life for their child. Ironically, Bob is ready to do this. But when he confronts Perfidia about doing the same, she tells him that she is a revolutionary, not a homemaker. This flips the script on gender roles. Gender norms and the cult of domesticity tacitly transmit beliefs from generation to generation that taking care of children and the home are the mother’s responsibility, and that the father’s role is to provide for the family financially. While the roles have blended substantially since the 1970s, the cultural expectations around parental responsibilities are still largely based in gender.

Colonel Lockjaw’s priorities in this film are interesting with respect to his aspirations to join an elite, all-male, all-White club that believes in the superiority of an Aryan race and requires its members to remain racially pure. In other words, applicants can have no history of intimate relations with anyone who is not White. Although Lockjaw’s affinity for Perfidia is in direct conflict with the club’s strict rules, like a rottweiler with a meaty bone and a vampire who sees blood, he is committed to being accepted as a member. So, under the guise of capturing undocumented Hispanic immigrants, he spends much of the movie mobilizing his troops across U.S. cities in pursuit of Perfidia and others who are aware of his sexual preferences. 

This scenario mirrors contemporary issues and events, in particular the government’s refusal to release the Epstein files and the ordering of Immigration Control Enforcement (ICE) agents and National Guard troops across U.S. cities. The film hints that the government’s dispatching of agents and troops is intended, at least in part, to obfuscate the controversy around the release of the Epstein files. The allusion of the colonel’s name to the lack of speech and transparency only bolsters this inference.

The movie also carries interesting themes about the risks of being unaware of what is happening in the world. When a heist goes bad, the crew is forced to disperse and go on the run. Believing he and his family are safe after more than a decade of no one knocking on the door, Bob becomes a habitual cannabis smoker. But when he receives notification that “they” are on their way, he can’t get his bearings, saying only, “After all this time!” 

To receive French 75’s help in getting away, Bob needs to remember the passcodes to verify his identity but he struggles to recall them, thus endangering himself and jeopardizing his loved ones. Rather than blame himself for getting comfortable and not remaining vigilant, he repeatedly yells expletives at French 75’s operators who won’t budge on giving him information without him first providing the necessary passcodes. The scenario is meant to be a lesson on the dangers of becoming oblivious to what is going on around us, and of buying into the belief that our lives will not be touched by them.

We don’t usually comment on acting in our reviews, but the strong performances in this film demand their mention. In addition to the lead actors, Regina Hall (The Hate U Give, The Best Man: The Final Chapters) and Chase Infiniti (Presumed Innocent) play pivotal supporting characters in the film. From the story to the aesthetic presentation, One Battle after Another is the total package. Harkening us to the Vietnam War era, incorporating terminology like “revolutionary,” and using resistance tactics from the period, allow for a more objective view of today’s issues by presenting them through yesterday’s lens. Central to the film are the corollary perspectives of Perfidia’s fight for justice and Lockjaw’s fight for himself, which help us see what staunch commitment looks like, regardless of the side you stand on and what you stand for.

One Battle After Another is comparable to the 2022 film, How to Blow Up a Pipeline, about a group of young environmentalists frustrated by the lack of attention to climate change, so they devise a plan to destroy a pipeline to make a point. The clandestine nature of the operation along with the film’s dark cinematography also gives it a feel similar to One Battle.