One Battle After Another Is a Thrilling Joint of Political Cinematic Energy

One Battle After Another, the new film by writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson, is his most mainstream to date. Complete with exciting car chases, shoot-outs, bank robberies, and kidnappings, it centers on a compelling father/daughter relationship. Its cast features some of the most recognizable male stars on the planet (Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro). But what’s intriguing about Anderson’s mainstream effort is that One Battle is also his most political film to date. The heroes are unabashedly left-wing, including radical domestic terrorists, and the villain is a sadistic federal policeman who pals around with white supremacists. The premise and actors are a Trojan horse, allowing Anderson to make an intense, undeniably prescient movie. Though Anderson despairs about t