Reflections on One Battle After Another

Community as Revolution

Spoiler Warning: This reflection contains key plot details. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, and don’t want to spoil it for yourself, come back later!

One Battle After Another is a timely film that connects themes about community, revolution, the “impossible man”, and who gets to be a revolutionary. In the aftermath of the fall of French 75, a revolutionary movement, Bob Ferguson disappears into obscurity with his newborn daughter, knowing that he may be “activated” again in a time of need. That time arrives 16 years later, when the law enforcement falls onto his hometown in California, putting his daughter’s life in danger.

What makes One Battle After Another special is that it flips the “impossible white man” trope on its head. This trope, with early references in the 2010s, is defined as follows: “This genre of movie is about average, everyday white men rising to the challenges presented to them to achieve a greater purpose.”. We’ve seen this type of movie before. The grizzled former-operative-turned-cynic, who is past his prime but was deadly in his youth, springs into action to save the day – more lethal than ever. The trope doesn’t preclude non-white, non-men from being classified as such, but it’s rooted in a decades-long format with white leading men. Think Liam Neeson in Taken, Denzel Washington in The Equalizer, Keanu Reeves in John Wick. Unlike them, Bob is woefully unprepared for his crisis. Sure, Bob reunites with his daughter in the end, but he does so only by coincidence and happenstance. He stumbles through the plot. Neither his experience nor his ingenuity aids him. He is out of his depth and behind the times. Bob’s role as the “impossible white man” in this movie is important because it conveys to the viewer that there is power in community. Whether it’s French 75, the United States military complex, the Christmas Adventures Club, or the local immigrant community, One Battle After Another displays the dichotomy between working alone and working together. Bob

One Battle After Another casts immigrant communities as modern-day revolutionaries and the immigration crisis as the battleground. Their organization, communication, and community outclassed “la migra” at critical points through the film, and Bob is the beneficiary of their organization. The world didn’t stop when Bob went “underground” – movements had to develop new tactics to adjust to new problems. The immigrant community knew where to go in an emergency, who to call, and had their own chain of command. This reminds the viewers that revolution is living and breathing. What’s left of Bob’s revolutionary past is knowledge and sentiment. He was so disengaged with the world that the revolution became a battle he wasn’t prepared for. It’s also a reminder of the fallacies of the impossible white man. Revolution is a community practice. That was the case with French 75 and remains the case in Bob’s present. The movie’s focus on him is meant to emphasize the helplessness he faces without the structures that support him. That’s probably a meta-commentary about criticisms that white men get to “fail upwards” – that even in the face of mistakes, they somehow find ways to reach goals that others wouldn’t reach.

Finally, One Battle After Another clearly places ICE as the aggressor of the film. Not so subtly, the film tells the viewer that the United States uses law enforcement in the service of establishing a white supremacist order. Admiral Lockjaw activates the military to help ensure his admission into the Christmas Adventures Club, a secret cabal of powerful white nativists who want to shape America in their image. Anderson isn’t subtle in his views here. From beginning to end, ICE is not an agency that creates public safety, but a tool in the service of white supremacy. As he closes out the movie, Lockjaw’s death symbolizes that allegiance to white supremacy is a foolhardy goal. The Christmas Adventures Club leadership kills Lockjaw without a second thought, but his actions in Bob’s hometown reinforce an unfair power structure.

One Battle After Another’s commentary is powerful because it reminds us that revolutionary movements are living and breathing. They (and we) must change with the times to meet today’s challenge. Moreover, the movie encourages us to live our values. Reading, studying, and talking about issues are important, but we need to find ways to actualize these values. Otherwise, we’ll be caught on our back foot when the revolution is at our doorstep.

Sources:

Anderson, P.T. 2025. One Battle After Another [Film]. Ghoulardi Film Company

Farisi, S. A. (2024, May 1). The Problem with the Impossible White Man. Calxylian. https://calxylian.com/the-problem-with-the-impossible-white-man/