Full disclosure: I’ve never sat down and actually watched D.W Griffith‘s The Birth of a Nation (1915).
I’ve watched clips, of course, and I’ve been reading all my life, of course, that aside from its landmark status as the first epic-sized movie ever produced, Birth is almost certainly the most reprehensibly racist film ever made, first and foremost from its ugly depictions of African Americans plus the glorifying of The Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force that “protects white women and maintains white supremacy”.
Truly rancid stuff, complete acceptance, no question.
I’m therefore not in a position to authoritatively agree with or dispute John Nolte‘s Breitbart.com review of One Battle After Another, in which he calls it a grand inverse of Griffith’s film with PTA’s Antifa-like resistance depicted in the same semi-glorious, semi-heroic terms used by Griffith to portray the KKK.
Note has trudged his way through Griffith’s film so he’s ahead of me in this respect.
Is this a fair comparison? Or a less-than-fair one? Either way it’s certainly worth kicking around.
Here’s the paywalled review:
“One Battle After Another is basically an inverted remake of D.W. Griffith’s racist 1915 masterpiece, The Birth of a Nation.
[HE interjection] Militant reps of one race of people (in Battle’s case, the white race) are (back to Nolte) “portrayed as inferior — stupid or pure evil. Militant reps of another race — i.e., black female reps who command the French 76 — are portrayed as moral, brave, capable, and on a righteous mission to save America from that inferior race.
“Battle’s central plot is even the same as Birth of a Nation’s: saving an innocent girl from possible harm by ugly reps of the inferior race.
“The comparisons do not end there.
“Both movies are too long. Both have great moments. Both are brought to us by master filmmakers of their era. Both exalt and legitimize terrorism. Both are indefensible and amoral.
“Nevertheless, One Battle After Another is something of a comeback for writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, his first decent movie since 2007’s There Will Be Blood.
“After the incredible winning streak of Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), and There Will Be Blood (2007), Anderson dropped four self-indulgent hard-sits in a row: The Master (2012), Inherent Vice (2014), Phantom Thread (2017), and Licorice Pizza (2021). Those first five, I can watch again and again (and have). One watch was more than enough with the final four.
“For all of its moral and storytelling flaws, One Battle After Another moves and entertains, at least in certain stretches.
“Battle is definitely a woke movie: full of black girlbosses and white guys who are either hapless sitcom dads or virulent racists. The legions of villains (all white) are obvious stand-ins for [HE-redacted] the ICE brigade. The good guys are violent, leftist Antifa-style revolutionaries.
“Battle opens 16 years ago, when the French 75 (i.e. Antifa) were on a bombing rampage. “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun, aka Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio), is a jumpy, over-excited, immature explosives expert who takes orders from the brave, competent, and stoic black women who really run things. This includes Bob’s lover, Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor).
“A French 75 raid to liberate a California ICE facility introduces Perfida to Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). He’s a racist, but her sexuality immediately warps him. She also finds herself attracted to him. They end up having something like an affair. One of the movie’s flaws is that you feel no connection between Perfidia and Lockjaw or Perfidia and Bob.
“Sixteen years later, Perfidia has disappeared, and Bob is a useless stoner hiding out in California with his 16-year-old mixed-race daughter, the smart, mature, and capable Willa (Chase Infiniti). Meanwhile, the insecure Lockjaw is desperate to feel special, appreciated, and respected by something called the Christmas Adventurers Club — a secret group of super-wealthy, influential, and dangerous white supremacists.
“At this point, about an hour in, the plot finally came to life. To become a Christmas Adventurer, Lockjaw must cover up his interracial affair with Perfidia, so he begins to hunt down Bob and Willa.
“With the hunt on, there’s action and humor, and the characters begin to form into something more than social, racial, and political symbols. And so, by the time the lights come up, you end up sympathizing with the characters, especially (and surprisingly) Penn’s Lockjaw.
“Battle’s MVP is unquestionably Benicio del Toro’s Sergio St. Carlos, a martial arts instructor who smuggles illegals into America (the movie never explains why anyone who cares about Mexicans would smuggle Mexicans into a country run by fascists and racists). Del Toro’s quiet and subdued (but still hilarious) Ying to DiCaprio’s neurotic and incompetent Yang lifts Battle into something special. Ocean waves. Ocean waves.
“Although it dragged at times, for the last two hours, the story was mostly engaging. What I hated was the plunking piano score and an ending that celebrated the terrorism of Antifa. Until then, the story had been on the road to redemption as a family story, so buttoning things up on this amoral note left a sour, Birth of a Nation-ish taste.
“One Battle After Another desperately wants to earn comparisons to the 1966 leftist masterpiece The Battle of Algiers, director Gillo Pontecorvo’s stunner about a real-life revolution against the French government. Anderson is so self-consciously desperate for this comparison, we watch DiCaprio get high and watch the movie.
“[But] if Anderson were honest, he would’ve had DiCaprio’s character get high watching Birth of a Nation. That’s a legitimate comparison. Battle’s plot, racial politics, and exalting of terrorism are as grotesque as Birth’s.
“From a pure storytelling point of view, OBAA is a failure. Because once you crack Battle’s racial code, there are no surprises.
“Nevertheless, both Battle and Birth have their moments, and it would be dishonest not to say so.
Post–script (Nolte to HE) — “When I say in the review that once you crack the racial code it becomes predictable, one example is that I knew, because he wasn’t white, that the older, heavy-set Native American guy with the wise, patient expression [name?] would try to save Willa.
“Plus that ending with Leo handling an iPhone like a retarded ape while strong, confident, brave Willa leaves for Oakland to fight alongside Antifa as the film closes with Tom Petty‘s ‘American Girl’ as accompaniment. Man alive!…”
HE sidenote: I’ve never watched Intolerance either. The two D.W. Griffith films I’ve seen start to finish are Broken Blossoms and Abraham Lincoln. Neither struck me as especially good.