I normally don’t watch the Oscars. Usually I am only interested in who won what, but last night for some reason, my twelve year old so really wanted to watch it so I sat down and watched it with him and I’m glad I did.
Last night’s 98th Academy Awards had plenty of memorable moments, but one thing was clear by the end of the night: Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another owned the evening. The film walked away with six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also one of the best movies I have seen recently and one of the few I’ve watched more than once.
The story follows Bob Ferguson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a former revolutionary who has spent years living on the run, trying to stay ahead of the consequences of his past. On the surface it’s a political thriller. But underneath the action and tension, the film quietly explores something much more personal: what it feels like to live with the weight of trauma.
As someone who works in mental health, that’s the part of the movie that stayed with me.
Because at its heart, One Battle After Another isn’t just about political conflict. It’s about the battles people carry inside.
When Life Feels Like One Battle After Another
The title of the film is fitting. Bob’s life is defined by a constant sense of threat. He’s hyper-alert, always looking over his shoulder, convinced that the past will eventually catch up with him. His relationships are strained, he struggles with substance use, and his greatest fear is that his daughter will suffer because of the choices he made years earlier.
If you work in mental health or if you’ve lived through difficult experiences yourself, this pattern probably feels familiar.
Trauma rarely shows up as one dramatic moment that people simply “get over.” More often it shows up as a series of internal battles: anxiety that never fully shuts off, difficulty trusting people, emotional distance in relationships, or the exhausting feeling of always needing to stay on guard.
In therapy we often talk about how survival strategies develop for a reason. Hypervigilance, emotional numbness, even substance use can start as ways of coping with overwhelming circumstances. They help people survive difficult environments. But over time, those same strategies can begin to isolate us from the very things we need most; connection, safety, and rest.
That tension is all over Bob’s character. The things that helped him survive are the same things making it difficult for him to truly live.
The Weight of Intergenerational Trauma
One of the more powerful threads in the film is Bob’s relationship with his daughter, Willa. Much of his behavior is driven by a desperate attempt to protect her from the consequences of his past.
That dynamic reflects something we see often in mental health work: trauma rarely stays contained within one person. It tends to ripple outward into families, relationships, and sometimes entire communities.
Parents who have lived through chaos often become intensely protective. Sometimes that protection shows up as control, distance, or anxiety. They want something different for their children but aren’t always sure how to break the patterns they inherited.
Psychologists call this intergenerational trauma, the ways stress, fear, and coping patterns move across generations. It doesn’t mean the cycle can’t be broken. But it does mean that healing is rarely simple.
And that’s one of the things One Battle After Another captures well. Healing in the film isn’t neat or dramatic. It’s messy, incomplete, and ongoing.
Which, honestly, is how real healing tends to look.
What Real Resilience Looks Like
What makes the film resonate from a mental health perspective is how it portrays resilience.
Resilience in movies often looks heroic. One breakthrough moment where everything changes.
But in real life, resilience usually looks quieter than that.
It looks like continuing to show up even when you feel exhausted.
It looks like asking for help when you’d rather withdraw.
It looks like trying, sometimes awkwardly, to reconnect with the people you care about.
Bob doesn’t suddenly overcome his trauma. Instead, he slowly starts reaching outward instead of staying trapped inside his own fear. He reconnects with old allies. He attempts to rebuild trust. He tries, imperfectly, to be present for his daughter.
That’s the kind of resilience therapists see all the time: not dramatic transformation, but small, persistent steps toward connection.
Why Stories Like This Matter Right Now
In a world that often feels like it’s moving from one crisis to another, it’s easy to feel like life itself has become a series of battles.
That’s why films like One Battle After Another resonate. They remind us that behind every headline, every conflict, every complicated life story, there are human beings trying to cope with their past while figuring out how to move forward.
Mental health isn’t separate from the rest of life. It’s woven into everything; our relationships, our histories, and the choices we make every day.
And sometimes the most powerful reminder we can receive is this: even when the battles keep coming, healing is still possible.
A Question Worth Sitting With
If you watched One Battle After Another or if you plan to, it might be worth asking yourself a simple question:
What battles am I still carrying from the past?
Not to judge yourself. Not to dwell on mistakes. But simply to notice.
Because the first step toward resilience isn’t pretending the battles aren’t there. It’s acknowledging them and realizing you don’t have to fight them alone.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor 