What makes ‘One Battle After Another’ one of the best films of the year

In the stronghold of film lovers, the director Paul Thomas Anderson is an untouchable entity — and his new film, One Battle After Anothershowing in cinemas, reinforced this fame. The American, author of pearls like Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Black Blood (2007) e The Master (2012), has a habit of making long films, which move between drama and satire, portraying complex family dilemmas, exaggerated ambitions, religious and political clashes, and the peculiarities of “american way of life“, the American lifestyle. The formula that is not easy — but done by him with perfection — reached a new level in the super production that features Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benício Del Toro in the cast.

Bob, played by DiCaprio, is a somewhat weak left-wing revolutionary who leaves the armed struggle to hide with his daughter. Sixteen years later, he continues to be pursued by the Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw, played by Sean Penn, a white supremacist, avid persecutor of minorities, who longs to be accepted into a very exclusive club of powerful men – and Nazis. From opposite and extreme sides of the political spectrum, they have in common their passion for the same woman (Teyana Taylor) – and the doubt about who the father of her daughter is.

The more than current plot began to be thought up by PTA (Anderson’s nickname) twenty years ago, now finding fertile and volatile ground for its debut. With an estimated budget of 130 million dollars, the film was considered a risk for Warner Bros., the studio responsible for the release. But as soon as the first reviews came out, the company’s expectations improved: highly praised, One Battle After Another has been hailed as the film of the year — and a strong contender for the Oscar.

Whether this heat surrounding the film will last until the awards ceremony remains to be seen, however, it has already secured a place among the best of the year. Lasting 2h50m, the film has a frenetic pace, creative action scenes, an impeccable script and mesmerizing performances. By placing the extremes meeting in the middle of the road — with a teenager as a meeting point —, Anderson reinforces the direct message that his enormous and refined productions ultimately want to convey: One Battle After Another talks about a family — and what happens to it when external actions interfere with relationships. A good reflection for the current era of extremes and designed in the form of entertainment so that no one can find fault — neither on the right nor on the left.