The Revolution Won’t Be Televised—Except When, Unintentionally or Intentionally, It Is

One Battle After Another movie poster: IMDb

During the final quarter of 2025, I spent a significant amount of time in movie theaters, and one trailer in particular replayed over and over in my head: One Battle After Another. It seemed I couldn’t get a grasp on what to expect from this movie. Was it meant to be humorous? Serious? Dramatic? I couldn’t quite tell, and that added to the allure of needing to see it. Despite my limited preconceived notions or assumptions, I had wildly underestimated what the film would deliver.

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another premiered late in 2025 with stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, the film explicitly invokes the phrase, “The revolution won’t be televised.” A phrase that is familiar in a sense from the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, where Kendrick Lamar declares, "The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy"., which is a flip of Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 spoken-word "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Yet while the uprising of the far-left group known as the French 75 is not literally broadcast within the film’s world, Anderson presents something more resonant: a revolution reflective of modern, highly political realities. In that sense, the revolution is very much televised, mirroring contemporary movements.

DiCaprio portrays “Ghetto” Pat, a committed revolutionary within the French 75, where he meets Perfidia, the woman who becomes his partner. The two eventually have a daughter, but their lives are complicated by Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn), a figure determined to dismantle the revolutionary cause. However, like all villains, Lockjaw has a weakness: Perfidia. Lockjaw’s fixation on Perfidia leads him to spare her after she humiliates him, allowing her to remain active in the movement until she is captured. Sixteen years pass before Lockjaw, now seeking admission into the Christmas Adventurers Club (a white supremacist organization) finds his past with Perfidia becoming a liability. His attempt to eliminate Perfidia’s daughter sets the film’s central conflict into motion.

What stands out most is the film’s ability to place the viewer inside the revolution itself. From early scenes of Pat and Perfidia planning the revolution, to urgent nighttime escapes, and learning to tuck and roll, the pacing creates a sense of urgency. This intensity is only exacerbated by the film’s engagement with modern-day issues like abortion, immigration, and political polarization. The revolution feels familiar because it mirrors the instability of our present moment.

That said, Anderson selected strong figures to lead this revolution, but at times, the acting is uneven, and occasionally over the top. One striking example occurs when Perfidia, far along in her pregnancy, fires a machine gun into the distance. Rather than demonstrating her strength as a revolutionary leader, the scene diminishes her seriousness and characterizes her as “unfit”, violent, and belligerent. This is troubling given she is a strong female lead in a role where she must exude that power and seriousness. Similarly, I wasn’t fond of the stoner trope given to DiCaprio’s character either, but by the end, this works out in a way that didn’t make him seem less credible. Perfidia, however, is swept off the screen post-pregnancy pretty quickly. Again, troubling for the purpose of some of the goals regarding the revolution (in particular, the reclamation of female power, and more significantly a woman of color reclaiming her power).

Despite these shortcomings, One Battle After Another remains a compelling and thought-provoking work. The performances are strong, the themes relevant, and the film tackling what the revolution will look like is honorable. Even though many of the revolutionaries are imprisoned or murdered for their beliefs, the film’s message remains intact: 

“Viva la revolución!”