Key Takeaways
- Ben Shapiro critically reviewed Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, "One Battle After Another," declaring it ideologically bad.
- The film's plot involves a revolutionary group and characters with on-the-nose names like Ghetto Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills.
- Shapiro characterized the film's ideological message as promoting violent revolution against perceived white Christian nationalism in the U.S.
- The host dismissed favorable interpretations of the film and predicted it would win Academy Awards as "left-wing agit prop."
Deep Dive
- The host declared "One Battle After Another" a bad film, despite acknowledging its aesthetic qualities.
- The film's writing was critiqued for on-the-nose character names, including Ghetto Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills.
- The plot involves a revolutionary terrorist group named the French 75, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's novel "Vineland."
- Perfidia Beverly Hills, a revolutionary, attempts to free illegal immigrants from an ICE facility in the opening scene and has a violent relationship with Colonel Stephen Lockjaw.
- Sixteen years later, Perfidia's husband Bob raises Lockjaw's daughter in a sanctuary city, contending with her radical teenage friends.
- Colonel Lockjaw seeks to kill his potential black daughter after being rejected by a white nationalist group, prompting a raid on the sanctuary city.
- Bob searches for his daughter, allying with Sergio Saint Carlos, a sensei leading an underground railroad for immigrants, who also engages with 'skateboarding terrorists.'
- The film's later plot includes a convoluted sequence involving Stephen Lockjaw, his daughter, and a Native American bounty hunter named Avanti Q, with Leonardo DiCaprio's character saving the daughter.
- The movie concludes with Stephen Lockjaw's euthanasia and the daughter's decision to become a revolutionary after reading a letter from her mother, with her father's approval.
- The host analyzed the film's ideological message as a conspiracy theory, suggesting the U.S. is governed by white Christian nationalists, which requires violent resistance from people of color and 'fellow travelers.'
- The host dismissed a Washington Post writer's interpretation that suggested the film reflects current political extremism and utilizes the 'horseshoe theory,' stating the film lacks subtlety.
- He argued "One Battle After Another" promotes radicalism and justifies left-wing terrorism, contrasting this with a writer's interpretation of the film as being about hope.
- The host characterized the film as "left-wing agit prop from high-power directors" that Hollywood would likely favor for Academy Awards.