The far left Hollywood journalist is angry that conservatives are accurately describing director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film One battle after another as it is – an amoral piece of pro-terrorist propaganda.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
- Dorothy has never been to Oz. It was all just a dream.
- Humphrey Bogart does not end up with Ingrid Bergman.
- Bruce Willis was dead the whole time.
- Kevin Costner’s father is the “he” in “If You Build It, He Will Come.”
- Gwyneth Paltrow’s head is What’s in the box?!?!
- Tyler Durden only exists in Ed Norton’s mind.
- Leonardo DiCaprio’s daughter finds herself becoming a left-wing terrorist while Tom Petty’s “American Girl” plays in the background.
It’s the latter that counts, because that’s how it is One battle after another ends, and like most films, Battle reveals what it’s really about in the final moments – and in its final moments, Leo’s capable, beautiful, caring mixed-race daughter runs away to join the film’s obvious stand-in for Antifa.
This is the message of the film. Everything is buttoned up there.
For nearly three sporadically entertaining and sporadically overly long and indulgent hours, Battle depicts left-wing terrorism as a vital force against the film’s obvious stand-ins for ICE. Every white character is either stupid and useless (the character of Leo) or a virulent racist. Racial minorities, particularly black women, are universally portrayed as strong, noble, and capable. The main story involves saving an innocent black girl from the evil clutches of the white race.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because – as I wrote in my review – One battle after another is nothing more than a retelling of the 1915 racist masterpiece Birth of a nation. All Anderson has done is reverse the races of those he considers racially superior and those he considers racially inferior.
One thing that hasn’t changed – although I doubt Anderson is self-aware enough to understand it – is that in both films the idolized terrorists are Democrats. In Birththe Ku Klux Klan terrorists are the heroes. Well, as we all know, the Klan was started by these Democrats who were still angry at the Republicans for taking away their slaves. In BattleAntifa is idolized, which is also composed, supported and protected by Democrats.
Both films are amoral and indefensible, but even after a left-wing sniper attacked an ICE station in Houston and Charlie Kirk was murdered by a left-wing defendant last month, the Hollywood journalist mocks the idea that some on the right find it repugnant to release a $150 million piece of studio propaganda promoting domestic terrorism as a moral necessity:
Given that the film is also intensely political – telling the story of a burned-out revolutionary (DiCaprio) who tries to save his daughter (Chase Infiniti) from a white nationalist military officer (Sean Penn) – it is perhaps surprising that there was no more noise so far from those on the right. The film opens with a celebratory raid on an ICE facility to free detainees, and shows government agents coldly executing unarmed suspects and sending an undercover agent into a peaceful protest to throw a Molotov cocktail to justify increased force.
And yet here THR laughable take:
Although some claim that the film celebrates political violence, this is not the case at all. He describes it as a temporary solution, which, when drawing the battle lines, only causes casualties on both sides and creates casualties among those suffering under the same American realities.
What a load of BS. Had Battle ended with Leo and his daughter rejecting terrorism by embracing a normal life, so I’d be all for it. Actually, I expected it. For nearly three hours, I thought I was watching a film in which left-wing terrorists grow up and accept what matters: the importance of family over violent revolutionary action. But then…
Leo’s daughter heroically runs to join Antifa, the anthem “American Girl” blares through the theater speakers and the credits roll…
Sorry, but you’d have to be as ignorant as Leo’s character or a ruthless liar not to understand exactly what was being said there.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed time, is winning five star praise daily readers. You can read an excerpt here and a thorough examination here. Also available in hard cover and on To light up And Audiobook.
