Leonardo DiCaprio Says ‘One Battle After Another’ Reflects the ‘Polarity’ and ‘Extremism’ of the World Right Now: ‘It Holds a Mirror Up to Our Society’

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” has been met with some of the highest acclaim of the year. But the feature — described in Variety‘s review as a “mesmerizing vision of police-state America” — is more than just a crowd and critic pleaser.

According to star Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a paranoid ex-revolutionary living off the grid, the film reflects the increasingly polarized nature of today’s society.

“It holds a mirror up to society and talks about the divisiveness in our culture and the fact that there’s so much polarity,” he told the BBC, adding that, while he didn’t think “One Battle After Another” has a central message, it features as “interesting undercurrent about extremism” and was “political without making it feel like medicine.”

Also starring Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor, the film is a black comic satire-meets-action blockbuster.