early 21st century americans were so modest that they would regularly censor their own feet in video and artistic depictions, and it was considered improper to expose your feet in public — dismissed with cries of “put those grippers away”
not to gush about movies on main but FUCK i cannot stop thinking about One Battle After Another and SPECIFICALLY i cannot stop thinking about Sensei, Benicio Del Toro’s character, and his entire operation happening in the background of the chaos that is the main story. it’s not flashy, it’s not in your face — it’s quiet. it’s ocean waves and courage. it’s him and his family knowing every person who he is helping by name — all legit from the heart no cash — it’s introducing the hyper white guy you’re helping out to your family as you guide him through your house.
maybe it’s because i know Sensei. he’s my tio. he’s my dad. he’s my stepdad. he’s their friends. he’s the family friend. he’s my parents backyard standing at the grill drinking a beer. he’s been at every birthday party for as long as i could remember.
a beer to take the edge off when you’re in the thick of it. a clear head while the world burns down, but you and yours are good. we’ve been through this before. just gotta ride the waves.
Already one of the most recognizable images from One Battle After Another, this shot shows Perfidia firing a machine gun while visibly pregnant. Pregnancy in cinema is usually framed in terms of fragility, protection, or domesticity. Here, by contrast, Perfidia refuses those associations: even in the late stages of pregnancy, she remains entrenched in the cause, her body weaponized by the revolution.
The image is built on stark contradictions. She is visibly carrying new life while engaging in destruction. Instead of resisting this tension, Perfidia embraces it, which makes her eventual abandonment of Bob and their baby feel like a grim inevitability. Bob himself acknowledges the dissonance, remarking, “She doesn’t act like she’s pregnant,” alluding to the fact that she refuses to inhabit the expected maternal role. Later, she says to a fellow revolutionary, “My pussy is meant for war.” Maternity and sexuality are not defined by care or procreation but by militancy. No, she recasts her body as both weapon and spectacle.
This makes her one of the film’s most transgressive figures: alluring, dangerous, and unsustainable. By leaving Bob and Willa behind, she enacts the film’s idea that her generation of radicals couldn’t sustain both the fight and a family. She chooses revolution over motherhood, but ultimately betrays both. Bob, conversely, chooses fatherhood over revolution, but at the cost of his ideals.
The shot’s impact lies in this jarring collision of motherhood and militancy. We are struck by her defiance and recklessness, but the film reminds us that though she can seduce and inspire, she cannot last. Her fire burns bright, but eventually it burns out.
so i watched one battle after another two days ago, and if there is anyone who can answer: what do people who have extensively studied revolutionary praxis or personally been a part of revolutionary mobilization think of this film?
it’s like. you can blow up the power grid and rob banks and make grandstanding declarations but the most material good we see anyone do is benicio del toro giving people a roof to sleep under. do you see what i’m trying to say.
One thing I love about One Battle After Another is that with Leo’s role as Bob is the protagonist and we follow him yet he basically does fuck all. Bob can’t remember the code words with his former group. He gets arrested so he can’t find his daughter that night. He can’t jump from the car, Sensei has to basically force him out. He misses his shot with the sniper rifle. He chases after the wrong car. Willa eventually saves herself when the bounty hunter turns on the white supremacists, and she shoots the guy hunting her down.
But it doesn’t matter because he eventually got to her and did the most important thing in being there for her, because the most important thing is that he’s her DAD, not that he’s some super awesome male action hero out for revenge or whatever. HE IS HER FATHER AND HE LOVES HER.
remember in 2011-2015 when every 13 year old girl was like harry styles isnt straight, dan and phil are dating, and mcr are gonna get back together and everyone was like “youre delusional”
buenas
