One battle after the other and sinners have an important thing in common

This article contains spoilers For “one battle after another”.

“A battle after another” takes a lot, a lot of freedoms with “Vineland”, the book Thomas Pynchon who inspired him. However, he keeps some of the central elements of the novel, such as generational change in revolutionary ideas and government administrations that crush resistance.

The Pynchon’s book shows how Nixon’s policy and federal interference sabotaged the counter-cultural movements of the 1960s, only for crawling consumerism and the capitalism of the Reagan era to crush everything remains of the revolutionary spirit of the 60s. “A battle after the other” retains part of this, but it is easier to miss the first time.

Indeed, the revolutionary group of the film detention center of the film, the revolutionary group of the office building French 75, is eliminated almost as soon as it is introduced. We see its members publish strong declarations and release migrants in a detention center, but they are betrayed shortly after and most of them are executed. Consequently, the film could initially be read as a satire describing revolutionary groups as a little more than angry children who scream in institutions and launching explosive anger attacks.

Jump towards the current one, the film then presents Sergio St. Carlos de Benicio Del Toro, professor of karate and head of the community. A kind and calm man who is undoubtedly hated by white supremacists living in his city of Baktan Cross, Sergio is left alone because he does not cause problems or even raising his voice. But there is more for him than meeting the eye. You see, Sergio has a “Latin situation Harriet Tubman”, offering a refuge of immigrants and a safe passage through the city via a series of tunnels.

Sergio and his allies are the greatest heroes of “One Battle after the other”, although he is not in the film for a very long time. In this way, the resistance group recalls the choctaw vampire hunters in “Sinners”, who arise for five minutes, make a memorable impression, then leave immediately, to never be revised again.

Sergio is really a peripheral character in the history of the ridiculous and hilarious of Bob Ferguson by Leonardo DiCaprio in “One Battle after the other”. It presents itself just long enough to reveal that there is a much larger story that occurs off screen, then leaves. (The fact that Anderson does not include another scene with Sergio after his judgment is a tragedy.) The whole makes the Choctaws think in “Sinners”, which present themselves for a single short scene, but lights a conflict that goes far beyond the events of the film.

It is also a perfect example of world construction. It widens the history and the framework of “sinners” in a way that signals to the public that there are countless events that occur elsewhere, as well as characters and the history of which we do not know. The inclusion of choctaws also helps to place the “sinners” in a better historical context by referring to the real history of the Amerindian resistance to white supremacy.

Now, although Sergio’s role in “One Battle after the other” is more substantial than that of Chayton (Nathaniel Arcand) and other Chochtaw vampire hunters in “Sinners”, it still serves a similar goal to the widening of the scale and the scope of the film, by introducing a very cool and memorable character, and even by alluding to the real heroes. After all, there are many examples of Latin American and Hispanic communities in the United States performing acts of solidarity and resistance against the anti-immigration wave, anti-latino spreading through the country and the horrors perpetrated by the current regime. They may not be flashy, but they are always important and effective.

Sergio is also the key to the themes of “one battle after another”. It represents what the resistance looks like in 2025, at a time when even freedom of assembly is attacked and any attempt at peaceful protest meets by the violent abolition by the forces of the regime. Sergio’s forces do not try to degenerate things, because they know that this will lead to even more important attacks against their community. Instead, they work quietly under the nose of the authorities. This is how Anderson adapts a crucial idea of ​​the Pynchon’s book, that is to say that the revolution continues with each new generation, even if governments continue to try to trample it. The 75 May was sabotaged, infiltrated and betrayed, but his mind continues.

Even if we argue that “a battle after the other” seems to place the quieter activism and more focused on the higher community than the violent resistance of the 75 French, the film recognizes unequivocally how violent resistance inspires others. Sergio does not help Bob to go out (even the scorching of a hospital after his arrest) because he teaches his daughter Karate. Sergio is specifically inspired to help Bob because he is a former member of French 75, and “how often can you help an original 75 escape?”

No, we don’t need a spin-off on Sergio, just as we don’t really need a prequel for “sinners” on the choctaw. But the fact that they both sparked so strong reactions from the public explain the effectiveness of their roles in their respective films. And although “One Battle after the other” had a smaller splash at the box office than “Sinners” is the kind of film that sticks with the public long after seeing it.

“One battle after the other” now plays in theaters.