Illustration: Warner Bros. Pictures
There is only one concrete fact about time. One battle after another — at one point, 16 years pass between the film's exciting first act and the rest. “Not much has changed,” activist Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) tells us in voiceover after this time jump, but the world in which her ex-partner Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) and their daughter, Willa (Chase Infinity)The occupation feels completely different. Eat “Mo Bamba” There are non-binary pronouns. It could be 2018, 2025 or 2040, when most of the film takes place – it's hard to say.
Since its release, viewers have been arguing about the chronology of events. One battle after another. While the revolutionary antics of the French '75s are reminiscent of the counter-insurgency movements of the 1960s, the film's first act, in which Perfidia meets Bob, falls in love, gets arrested, then breaks free and gives birth to Willa before disappearing completely, is definitely set not that long ago. For example, after Perfidiya’s arrest, smartphones were visible. Vineland, Thomas Pynchon's novel, which Anderson loosely jokes about, is based on the relationship between '60s revolutionaries and '80s yuppies, but One battle it also doesn't take place in the 1980s.
The film opens with 75 Frenchmen freeing dozens of migrants detained at the border. This is a relatively recent practice – emphasis on relatively. Eat migrants detained at the border as I typebut they were also detained in 2014 during the second Obama administration. If this first act takes place in that time, then Bob's time with Willa in Bucktan Cross will be brought forward to 2030. One battle after another in 2041. It seems that general belief among the spectatorswho delved into such production details as sci-fi retrofuturist technology which Stephen Lockjaw (Sean Penn) uses to test Willa's DNA. But the second you think you might have settled into a time and place, One battle after another throws the wrench again this is a completely retro car. Bob spends much of the film driving a 1991 Nissan Sentra, and he and the other former revolutionaries avoid modern smartphones because they can be tracked. All these details add color to the characters – Will's friend's Yaris, a discontinued Toyota model, is a fun shout-out for those of us who had school friends with Yarises – but not so much for the real, literal universe One battle after another. Anderson is a character-oriented director, and he seems to have chosen these details for their sake rather than for the sake of the film's coherence.
In viewing One battle after anotherI'm reminded of another movie that takes an inventive approach to time: Christian Petzold Transitthe action of which is supposedly “unfolded” during the Second World War. While the main characters look, feel and dress the part, the rest of Petzold's fascist Marseille is current: modern cars, modern technology, modern weapons. Should we assume that his characters are ghosts? Is this a cost-cutting approach when setting up a period? The effect is the same, regardless of the cause. The film begins to move beyond the concept of a World War II film and becomes something much more mysterious and exciting. Likewise, One battle after another becomes more compelling the more the timeline seems out of sync with reality. The French 75 could very well exist now, 16 years ago or sometime in the future. Part of what Anderson leaves the viewer with at the end of the film is the belief that the revolutionaries will keep coming. No matter the time, place or iPhone model, there is always someone ready to step up.
