There are supporting performances and there are load-bearing ones, turns so essential to a movie’s existence that without them the whole structure might crumble to the ground. At first glance, Benicio del Toro’s Sergio St. Carlos might seem a mere sidekick, the buddy who gets One Battle After Another’s Bob Ferguson out of a jam and gives up his own freedom so the movie’s protagonist can go free. But sit with it a little, and you might realize Sergio is no one’s second fiddle. He’s the hero.
In the midst of a story about would-be revolutionaries agitating for sudden change, Sergio embodies the opposite — not acquiescence, but methodical, sustained resistance. Unlike the French 75’s headline-grabbing pyrotechnics or the Christmas Adventurers Club’s sinister cabal, Sergio’s “Latino Harriet Tubman situation” has no name, no manifesto or underground lair, just a wide-spreading network of ordinary people waiting for their moment to do the right thing.
It’s no accident that Sergio’s public-facing persona is as a teacher of judo, the art of turning your opponent’s aggression against them. (Paul Thomas Anderson pitched del Toro the character by sending him a picture of a tiger in a kimono.) He may prize the ancient rifle he loans to Bob, but he hardly seems like the type to fire it. Bob’s explosives turn political action into public spectacle, but Sergio works below the radar, because he knows you can’t carry on the struggle if you wear yourself out too soon. When he guides Bob’s daughter, Willa, through her kata, his main advice is simple: “Don’t forget to breathe.” He gives Bob the same counsel, in different words: “Ocean waves, ocean waves.”
Barely a month after One Battle’s release, the streets of Halloween were dotted with Sergios, glasses halfway down their noses, a few small beers at their side — a tribute to del Toro’s instantly iconic performance. But it’s also a tribute to what Sergio stands for, his patience, his decency, his ability to stay cool while never giving up the fight. Viva la revolución.