Most People Don’t Get “One Battle After Another”‘s Deeper Themes (Some of Them Explained Here)

Most people who have seen “One Battle After Another” seem oblivious to the movie’s larger themes, and it’s truly rare a Best Picture winner has received so little critical thought or analysis. Yes, “One Battle” has excellent action sequences, comedic moments, and a heartfelt reunion between Bob and Willa that would be enough to make the movie enjoyable all by itself. Do you need to understand it on a deeper level to enjoy it? Not at all.

However, it strikes me as a terrible fate that so many “One” detractors do not understand it or haven’t dug deeper into it, while “Sinners” has been praised as “deeper” for having a relatively obvious “vampires as cultural appropriators” allegory (and racial purity fantasy wherein it’s okay if nearly all the black characters die as long as they are kept “pure”). Trying to correct that perception, here are some things “One Battle” viewers may not have picked up on…

–Col. Lockjaw trying to “erase” his black daughter so he can join the “great men” that the Christmas Adventurer’s Club represent in his mind is a metaphor for how nearly all African Americans are descended from slavery or slave owners or women who did not have much choice in being with them, but that has been largely erased in American history or the history of many “great men.” [And not just by white historical readings, but racial purity fantasies like “Sinners” to boot.]

–Tellingly, the character named “1776 James” is the one that is eventually going to kill Willa on Lockjaw’s behalf in order to maintain his historical illusion, and it’s a character named “Avanti” (which translates to “progress,” or “advance” in Italian) that can’t allow that to happen.

–Similarly, Willa being Lockjaw’s child is how the “children” of revolution are quite literally spawned by oppressive forces, and a reaction to them. Lockjaw bemoans that he “can’t even have a conversation” with Willa–who he would almost certainly kill no matter what–the same way the forces of fascism are condescending towards revolutions that they’re just too ignorant to understand that oppression is for their benefit.

–Tellingly, the name Willa literally means “resolute protector” or “willful/desire.” The reason many older revolutionaries seem willing to risk it all to save Willa may mean that she’s the protector of the flame of revolution. She could also symbolize the “willful” revolutionaries that fascism can’t control.

–Regina Hall’s character Deandra’s name also means something, as Deandra literally translates to “divine defender” which she is of Willa’s character, possibly signifying that Willa is meant to eventually inherit her mantle in the group.

–The name Sergio St. Carlos also means something as Sergio means “servant” or “guardian,” which Benicio Del Toro’s character is certainly that, and St. Carlos was the first millennial saint, meaning Del Toro’s character is what small, but great acts may now look like in this millennium.

–Lockjaw and Bob being in love with the same woman is the fire and ferocity of liberty itself, whereas Lockjaw wants to control/own her, and Bob just wants to love her. It’s also kind-of showing how revolution and oppression are flip-sides of the coin. They’ve been connected from the very beginning, and often feed on each other or overlap in surprising ways. [The same way what Trump truly wants is for all his liberal foes and “haters” to love him; that’s what he would rather have is that love and acceptance, but Teyana Taylor’s character only agrees to “love” Lockjaw when forced to.]

–“Perfidia” literally means a betrayal of trust, the way Bob (and the larger revolution) are “let down” by something more layered, human, and realistic that can’t live up to their unrealistic ideals.

–The “Beverly Hills” part of her name might mean that the “revolution” won’t necessarily come from Hollywood or wealthy liberal enclaves so much as the invisible forces Benicio Del Toro or the nuns represent. This could also be represented by a washed-up Bob watching “The Battle of Algiers” over and over.

–Similarly, the most effective revolutionaries in the movie aren’t necessarily lobbing grenades or committing anecdotal violence but quietly blend into daily life (April Grace’s nuns or Del Toro’s sensei) the way everyday citizens are helping immigrants evade the forces of ICE.

–The title refers to how each generation will inherit the battles of the other where we hope they can “save” things, but the battles are endless, and we’re really just kicking the can down the road–letting them inherit our problems. The battles never really end, which is why the same themes pop up in history over and over.

–Similarly, Bob was a “radical” in his day, but Willa views him as tired and behind-the-times on things like gender identity. This is a metaphor for how every generation views the one that came before as dated no matter how radical they were.

–Bob being largely useless or ineffectual in the overall fight is a metaphor for parenthood. Willa will have to save herself (she would’ve been long dead if merely waiting for Bob to rescue her), but the best thing a dad can do is just show up like he does at the end, in the heartfelt saying of “it’s your dad.” At a certain point, you just sort of have to watch them, and hope nothing too bad happens. This could apply to parenting, but also generational change where each generation must eventually let the next one make its own decisions, and hope they do better.

–Bob being unable to connect with his group because he can’t remember the “nitpicky” details of the password is probably Anderson taking a slight jab at how liberals can divide themselves over the dumbest of semantics or surface differences while much larger things are happening like “ummm…it’s ‘unhoused’ rather than ‘homeless'” while conservative billionaires are bulldozing the entire district. …Ironically, this isn’t that different from the way “Sinners” cult is determined to shit on “OBAA” because it has a white director, a more nuanced worldview, and black women leading the revolution over black men.

–The white supremacist organization secretly running the country in “One Battle” could absolutely be a stand-in for Trump’s business benefactors, but it also represents the historical tendency of white supremacists to paper over the slavery descendants and mixed-race lineage of the Confederate “heroes” they erected statues to (virtually none of those men have acknowledged slave descendants, which would be almost impossible for them not have some). They wish to literally kill Lockjaw once they discover Willa’s existence (their childish “shock” and “horror” at discovering this in their secretive bunker room is one of the movie’s funniest scenes), the same way some “great men” heroes have been metaphorically “killed” (letting their legacy fade) when it’s discovered they weren’t racist enough for their naive white supremacist fans. It’s also an acknowledgment that the primary goal of white supremacy is to separate the races, as CAC members appear to have no problem employing them in thankless, menial positions (like the mentioned Hispanic workers of a chicken plant).

–Lockjaw’s ultimate fate doesn’t come from Bob (one of “OBAA”s many cliche-busting moves is denying a face off between Lockjaw and Bob), but from the fascistic/white-supremacist forces he’s spent his career serving. This could stand in for the endless soldiers of oppression who eventually get killed by the very systems they’re serving when they veer from that rigid doctrine too much or just based on a whim–same way plutocrat Trump has pushed out the working-class-background MAGA “soldiers” like Marjorie Taylor-Green, Kristi Noem, Mo Brooks, Greg Bovino (who has an eerie similarity to Penn), etc.

–Lockjaw’s masculinity is challenged early on, and he’s paradoxically “turned on” by the fire Perfidia represents. Penn made the brilliant decision to play “Lockjaw” with a series of twitches, muscle spasms, and ticks like this is a man at war with himself or trying very hard to suppress his true nature. This reminded me of how the main character in “The Conformist” (a film PTA loves) pretends to be a fascist in order to disguise his homosexuality.

–Similar to how the names Perfidia, Deandra, Willa, Sergio, Avanti, and 1776 James have deeper meanings, Lockjaw does too, and even Steven, as this name translates to “crown” or “honor,” which is what Steven Lockjaw nearly secures before having it stripped from him in his final scene.

–Pat Calhoun/Bob Ferguson appears to be the only major member of the cast whose name does not have a deeper meaning, only enforcing the idea that he’s the “everyman” stand-in instead of the action hero. Pat/Bob (whose very name is interchangeable) is like most of us, wanting to be of some use, but largely unable to affect the trajectory of events.

–And then you get into some eerie parallels between what ICE is doing in real life for political power–Trump has sent them to blue cities rather than red state poultry plants (the way a CAC member in “OBAA” was mad Lockjaw had raided one of his chicken plants)–and Lockjaw staging a bogus immigration raid when he really just wanted to capture Bob and Willa. The weekend I watched Lockjaw send troops into a west coast city on a personal mission, I watched Trump do the same thing to Portland and Los Angeles.

End Note: There very well could be more, but I think 20 things people who have watched this movie appear to have not picked up on is a good starting point that should definitely end the grumbling about the movie’s perceived “shallowness” and lack of deeper meaning.