MAGA is infuriated by the movie ‘One Battle After Another’: “The film undeniably romanticizes political assassination”
Released late last month, Paul Thomas Anderson’s new picture has riled up political commentators on the right.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, One Battle After Another, has been a box-office success and is seen as an awards contender - but conservative political commentators are less enthused, lambasting the picture as “irresponsible”.
What is One Battle After Another about?
Based on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a washed-up left-wing revolutionary who searches for his missing daughter, Willa, played by Chase Infiniti.
Bob is a long-time member of French 75, a left-wing group that uses violence - such as bombings and assassinations - to fight against a fascist, white-nationalist U.S. regime. In the words of the movie critic Alyssa Rosenberg, the authorities in One Battle After Another are portrayed as “bent on a campaign of racial purification”.
Ben is not Willa’s only pursuer: she is also being sought by Sean Penn’s Steven J. Lockjaw - a racist, corrupt military officer who is a would-be member of a white-supremacist society known as the Christmas Adventurers Club.
“Gripping tale of resistance and family”
Since it was released in late September, One Battle After Another has earned over $100 million at global theaters, as well as widespread praise from film critics.
For example, the Observer’s Wendy Ide has described the picture as one of 2025’s “most thrilling cinema events”, while Sight & Sound’s Nick Bradshaw concurs that the nearly three-hour-long epic is a “terrific ride”.
“This funny, gripping tale of resistance and family […] is one of the most absorbing films of the year,” concludes iNews’ Christina Newland.
One Battle After Another is being heavily tipped for Oscars recognition next March. It currently leads Hamnet as the bookmakers’ favorite for Best Picture, while Anderson - who has 11 career nominations but has never won an Academy Award in any category - is the frontrunner for Best Director.
However, commentators on the political right have taken exception to the depiction of a violent left-wing fightback in One Battle After Another - particularly as the movie’s release came just two weeks after the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, a prominent advocate of President Trump’s right-wing “Make America Great Again” movement, was shot dead during a public appearance at Utah Valley University on September 10. Two days later, authorities arrested and charged a suspect described by Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, as “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology”.
“Reckless ode to radical terrorism”
Reacting to the release of One Battle After Another, Fox News’ David Marcus has labeled the movie “an ill-timed apologia for left-wing violence”.
The National Review’s Armond White agrees that it is a “reckless ode to radical terrorism”, writing: “It’s a macabre coincidence that One Battle After Another opens so soon after the assassination of peaceable conservative debater Charlie Kirk. The film undeniably romanticizes political assassination […]. It is the year’s most irresponsible movie.”
In a video review of One Battle After Another, the conservative commentator Ben Shapiro echoes the sentiments of Marcus and White when he dismisses the movie as “an apologia for radical left-wing terrorism”.
“The basic suggestion,” Shapiro says, “is a conspiracy theory in which the United States is run by white supremacist Christian nationalists and all people of color and a few nice incompetent fellow travelers, like Bob, are going to take on that system. And that system must be taken on, at the cost of family, at the cost of friendship, at the cost of decency, at the cost of basic human capacity for success.
“It is better, in other words, to be a complete loser who wastes your life bombing things randomly in order to free illegal immigrants to run willy-nilly across the border, than to be a productive citizen of society.”
Shapiro appears to be referring here to a scene in which French 75 revolutionaries storm a migrant detention center, against a backdrop of large-scale immigration round-ups in One Battle After Another. There are evident parallels with the immigrant crackdown overseen by President Trump since returning to the White House in January.
“Isn’t celebrating political violence”
Amid right-wing criticism of One Battle After Another, there are numerous voices in the media, however, that have opposed conservatives’ characterization of the film’s treatment of left-wing violence.
“In its broadest outlines, the movie’s good guys are indeed leftist radicals, pitted against an authoritarian movement within the US government […]” says The Guardian’s Jesse Hassenger. “[But] Anderson isn’t speculating about the utopian future that a revolution could provide, or celebrating political violence.”
The film only “depicts [political violence] as a temporary solution,” agrees The Hollywood Reporter’s Richard Newby. “One that, when drawing battle lines, only results in casualties on both sides and creates victims out of those who suffer under the same realities of America.”
One Battle After Another - watch the trailer:
Related stories
Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.
Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.
Complete your personal details to comment