Woke Movie promotes VIOLENCE against ICE

Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, 'One Battle After Another,' is criticized as an ideologically flawed and simplistic promotion of left-wing revolutionary violence against perceived white Christian nationalist systems, despite its strong direction and score.

• The movie 'One Battle After Another' is deeply flawed due to its poor writing and overtly political, simplistic narrative.

• It promotes a 'permission structure for violence,' suggesting revolutionary action is justified against perceived white Christian nationalist systems.

• The film's ending explicitly encourages the next generation to pursue revolutionary violence, despite any negative consequences.

The film 'One Battle After Another' is deemed a bad movie, despite its excellent direction, cinematography, and score by Johnny Greenwood. Its primary flaw lies in its poorly written and ideologically driven plot, which is seen as a permission structure for violence, presenting a simplistic narrative of people of color taking on a white supremacist Christian nationalist system. The movie's ending reinforces the idea that revolutionary violence is a path to follow, which critics interpret as an apologia for left-wing terrorism.

Film's Premise & Plot

• 00:00:52 The movie 'One Battle After Another,' loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's novel 'Vineland,' centers on revolutionary terrorist leaders Ghetto Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor). The plot begins 16 years prior to the main timeline, in 2008/2009, with an opening scene depicting a raid on an ICE facility to free illegal immigrants. Perfidia engages in a BDSM relationship with the villain, Colonel Stephen Lockjaw (Sean Penn), an uptight white Christian nationalist commanding the ICE facility, ultimately bearing his child while continuing her revolutionary activities.

Later Plot & Characters

• 00:03:48 Fast forward 16 years, Ghetto Pat Calhoun, now known as Bob, is raising Willa, the daughter he believes is his, but is actually Lockjaw's. Willa becomes a spirited teenager interested in revolutionary violence with her gender non-binary friends, while Lockjaw, seeking to join a white nationalist group, decides to kill his biracial daughter. Bob teams up with Benicio del Toro's character, Sergio St. Carlos, a karate teacher and leader of an underground railroad for illegal immigrants and 'skateboarding terrorists,' to find his daughter during Lockjaw's raid on their sanctuary city.

Climax & Resolution

• 00:06:48 Colonel Stephen Lockjaw, unable to kill Willa himself, hands her off to a Native American bounty hunter, Avanti Q, who is supposed to deliver her to another white nationalist group for her execution. However, Avanti Q heroically turns on the white nationalists and dies saving Willa. The film culminates in Bob saving Willa from another Christmas Adventurers Club member, while Lockjaw is 'euthanized' by the white nationalist group. The movie concludes with Willa receiving a letter from her mother, encouraging her to continue the revolutionary struggle, with Bob's permissive approval.

Ideological Critique

• 00:08:43 The film is heavily criticized as an ideological mess and 'apologia for radical left-wing terrorism,' portraying the United States as run by white supremacist Christian nationalists that people of color and 'incompetent fellow travelers' must violently oppose. The narrative promotes a conspiratorial worldview where violence is justified in self-defense against a shadowy cabal targeting specific groups. Attempts by critics to find subtlety or a different moral in the film, such as a 'horseshoe theory' of politics or a message of hope, are dismissed as misinterpretations, given the clear endorsement of revolutionary action in the film's ending.