DiCaprio’s “One Battle After Another” is Woke Propaganda Gone Wild

Hollywood is throwing itself another self-congratulatory party, and this year’s likely golden globe sweetheart is the slog One Battle After Another. It’s being hailed as “the film of the decade” by the usual suspects in Variety and The New York Times, which should tell you everything you need to know about how it plays with normal Americans.

The movie is by director Paul Thomas Anderson, and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, a washed-up revolutionary who must rescue his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) when his old nemesis (Sean Penn) reappears after sixteen years. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the movie follows Bob as he’s forced back into conflict, caught between his past ideals and present dangers

Ths bloated tribute to left-wing radicalism disguised as prestige cinema was blasted by John Nolte at Breitbart as “amoral pro-terrorist propaganda,” accusing director Anderson of glorifying Antifa-style violence and ending with DiCaprio’s daughter running off to join domestic terrorists. The Blaze echoed those points, saying the movie’s “left-wing propaganda” turns violent extremists into heroes and costs viewers nearly three hours of “insidious preachiness”. Other outlets say it’s a “woke fever dream” that defends violence against conservatives, and “a reckless ode to radical terrorism,” especially offensive after the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Author Bret Easton Ellis, who’s no right-wing bomb thrower, just an honest writer with a fully functioning brain, called it out for what it is: a leftist relic already gathering ideological dust. Recently on his podcast, he said the following.

“It’s kind of shocking to see these kind of accolades for — I’m sorry, it’s not a very good movie — because of its political ideology, and it’s so obvious that’s what they’re responding to, why it’s considered a masterpiece, the greatest film of the decade, the greatest film ever made. Because it really aligns with this kind of leftist sensibility… There’s a liberal mustiness to this movie that already feels very dated by October 2025. Very dated. And it just doesn’t read the room. You know, it reads a tiny corner of the room, but it does not read what is going on in America.”

Translation: this movie was made for Hollywood cocktail parties, not moviegoers. Ellis nailed what most critics won’t admit—this film’s accoldades are for its message, not any merit. It’s just another symptom of an industry that confuses moral clarity with moral vanity and refuses to read the room 

The film cost $140 million to make, and is bombing faster than a Biden press conference. Viewers are walking out, and word of mouth has sunk it. The marketing was deceptive too, hiding its political sermon under flashy trailers. People bought tickets expecting a gritty thriller, not a lecture about oppression.

For decades, going to the movies used to mean something fun. You sat in a dark room with strangers and lost yourself in a good story. Now Hollywood insists on reminding you of your sins before the opening credits roll. Every production feels like homework graded by BlueSky activists. Ellis is right—this stuff already feels ancient because progressivism ages faster than milk in July. The film isn’t being praised because it moved audiences; it’s being praised because it flatters the industry’s own politics.

Expect *One Battle After Another* to sweep the Oscars next year. The Academy loves political sermons that make them look virtuous, and this one also happens to tick all their recently required DEI checkboxes. Meanwhile, ticket sales have already circled the drain. Americans want entertainment, not scolding. They’re done paying twenty bucks a head to be told their country is evil by actors protected by armed security.

Until more voices like Ellis are heard, audiences can expect the theaters to stay empty and the red carpets to shine under the glow of their own self-righteousness. Sooner or later, the market wins—and maybe one day, the folks making movies will remember who they’re supposed to entertain. Until then, our side will keep calling out the phony propaganda while waiting for something worth the price of the popcorn.

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