Revolutionary Violence and One Battle After Another.
Revolutionary Violence and “One Battle After Another”
On this episode of The Time of Monsters: David Klion on the historical resonance of Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie.
The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
Revolutionary Violence and One Battle After Another w/ David Klion
Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film One Battle After
Another, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protect
immigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the movie
that feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and
Portland. Although it presents a stylized version of reality, the film raises important questions
about different strategies of resistance. David Klion, a frequent guest, wrote about the movie
for The New Republic. David and I talked about the film, its roots in actual history but also
variance with that history as well as its relationship with the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland.
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Fans cheer at an event for the movie One Battle After Another on September 18, 2025, in Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico.
Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, One Battle After Another, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protect immigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the movie that feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland. Although it presents a stylized version of reality, the film raises important questions about different strategies of resistance. David Klion, a frequent guest, wrote about the movie for The New Republic. David and I talked about the film, its roots in actual history but also variance with that history, as well as its relationship with the Thomas Pynchon novel Vineland.
Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.
The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
Matt Taibbi and the New Threat to Free Speech w/ Eoin Higgins
Journalist Eoin Higgins was recently sued for defamation by a fellow journalist Matt Taibbi, who is subject on criticism in Higgins’ book Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. The case was briskly dismissed by a judge and is now on appeal. The lawsuit was manifestly frivolous and is filled with irony, since Taibbi likes to present himself as a free speech champion. I spoke to Higgins about it and the larger tendency of wealthy right-wing figures, including Donald Trump, to use lawsuits to intimidate critics.
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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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