One Battle After Another by Gretchen Jackson

What was this movie about?

Revolution. The Far Left. Elite Power Secret Societies. The Far Right. Racism, both systematic and personal. Bounty Hunters. ICE. Illegal Immigration. Passwords. Martial Arts. Car Chases.

What was this movie really about?

Fathers and daughters. Feeling out of touch with society. Being haunted by past choices – both good and bad. People trying to help one another out, even when the odds are stacked against them. Opening a dialogue about marginalized black women and elevated white men. An examination of how the Far Left and the Far Right both need each other to exist.

The beauty of One Battle After Another is that it can be about anything you want it to be. It’s a buddy movie – Sensei and Bob. It’s about the sometimes tenuous but always magnetic connection between fathers and daughters – Bob and Willa Ferguson. It’s about marginalized people – Perfidia and illegal immigrants. It’s about distortion and perversion of power – Lockjaw and the Christmas Adventure Club. It’s about the comic disconnection between generations – Bob vs. Willa’s friends. It’s a car chase flick.

The Far Left may hate parts of the movie, because the revolutionaries are not always painted in the best light. The Far Right will hate it because it makes them look petty and foolish. But in the currently overheated political climate that’s being constantly fomented by mainstream media, I’m glad there’s enough searing satire to go around. No one will completely escape its lens.

Noteworthy Scene:

When Bob desperately tries to connect with his Far Left Revolutionary Underground in order to find the rendezvous point, he has to get past Comrade Josh, the equivalent of a customer service representative for a big corporate conglomerate; the irony being that even though these revolutionaries are anti-establishment, their underground network is exceedingly establishment. This is the world we’re living in.

I was indescribably delighted when Bob finally got a chance to tell Comrade Josh off. It was deeply, deeply satisfying.

Best Takeaway:

SPOILER ALERT

The scene that stays with me most is the scene where Willa holds the gun on Bob. This scene is layered with nuance and hidden meaning. It’s striking because on the surface, it doesn’t make sense. Why doesn’t Willa collapse in relief and drop her gun when she sees Bob? After a beat, the audience has a chance to catch up: Willa is traumatized. She’s just shot and killed a human being, and it’s affected her deeply. She’s also been informed that her father is not Bob, but the psychotic right-wing nutjob who arrested her mother, Lockjaw. Willa holds the gun on Bob as he calls out the safe words to her.

But they don’t compute. She’s shell-shocked.

She asks him who he is. Bob tells her, “I’m your dad”

“I’m your dad.”

Blood doesn’t matter. DNA doesn’t have a place here. Bob has cared for Willa, raised her. He’s the one human being scouring the earth trying to find her. Who won’t give up until he finds her. Who will exhaust his last ounce of strength trying to protect her.

For me, that’s what One Battle After Another is really about. It’s about parenthood. And love. It’s about going through one battle after another for your loved one, no matter what that looks like. No matter what the obstacles are. There is no payoff for you. The only payoff is knowing that they’re safe. And happy. And that’s why you’re there. To rescue them when they get kidnapped by a militant whack job who intends to kill them to cover up his past transgressions and protect his white supremacist ideology.

If not that, what else are “dads” for?