DiCaprio’s New Political Thriller Hits Malta Where It Hurts—And Audiences Can’t Look Away

Leonardo DiCaprio storms back onto the screen this month in “One Battle After Another,” a razor-sharp political thriller that feels almost tailor-made for Maltese audiences still dizzy from our own revolving-door governments and Panama-scented headlines. The two-time Oscar winner plays a dogged American investigative reporter who uncovers a covert network of shell companies funnelling dark money into election campaigns across the Mediterranean—fictional, yes, but the parallels to Malta’s 2013-2021 political rollercoaster are impossible to ignore. As the film premiered at the Valletta Film Festival’s outdoor screening in Pjazza Teatru Rjal on Friday night, gasps from the 600-strong crowd suggested director Paul Greengrass knew exactly whose nerves he was tapping.

Local reaction was swift. By Saturday morning, Facebook timelines from Birkirkara to Birżebbuġa were dissecting a scene in which DiCaprio’s character confronts a tourism minister aboard a super-yacht berthed in “Porto Lemone”—a transparent stand-in for Valletta’s Grand Harbour. The yacht’s name, “Lady Henley,” winkingly references the Panama-registered vessel once linked to a former Maltese minister’s aide. Blogger and occasional Lovin Malta contributor Sarah Pace summed up the sentiment: “It’s like they read the Egrant files and turned them into Netflix bait.”

Why does a Hollywood A-lister’s new project matter on our rocky archipelago? Because Malta’s film-servicing industry—anchored by Mediterranean Film Studios and the Malta Film Commission’s 40% cash rebate—has quietly become Europe’s back-lot, hosting everything from “Game of Thrones” to “Gladiator 2.” “One Battle After Another” shot its Tunisia sequences in Gozo’s Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs last November, pumping an estimated €2.3 million into the local economy during a pandemic-truncued shoot. Over 120 Maltese crew members were hired, from gaffers to gastronomy staff, while students at MCAST’s Institute of Creative Arts interned in the art department, painting protest placards that now double as souvenirs.

The cultural resonance runs deeper than economics. Greengrass told Times of Malta he deliberately sought “a country that understands political theatre at island scale,” citing Malta’s 2019 journalist assassination and subsequent public inquiry as narrative inspiration. In the film’s climax, DiCaprio’s character publishes evidence of government corruption only after a car-bomb kills his source—a storyline that had Valletta audiences holding their breath, mindful of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s fate. During the post-screening Q&A, festival artistic director Teresa Friggieri asked Greengrass whether artists risk glamorising real tragedies. The British director replied, “Silence is complicity; cinema can keep the spotlight hot.”

Youth activist group Repubblika seized the moment, distributing flyers outside the venue urging faster implementation of the public inquiry’s recommendations. “We handed out 800 flyers in 30 minutes,” said member Alessia Xuereb, 22. “People queued to sign our petition because the film reminded them why we still march.” Meanwhile, the National Book Council announced it will host a free panel—”From Panama to Popcorn: Storytelling Malta’s Corruption”—tying the film’s themes to local literature like Immanuel Mifsud’s “In the Name of the Father (and of the Son).”

Tourism operators are also bracing for a DiCaprio-driven spike. “We’re already fielding enquiries about boat tours to ‘that harbour in the movie’,” laughed Karl Zahra, who runs Yellow Fun Malta boat charters. Expect Airbnb hosts to rebrand their sea-view apartments as “Investigative Reporter Chic” within weeks.

Yet the most profound impact may be psychological: seeing our collective trauma refracted through a Hollywood lens offers a strange validation. In the courtyard of the Splendid Guest House, where extras stayed during filming, 68-year-old retiree Joe Attard reflected: “They dramatised our pain, but they also showed the world we’re still standing. That counts for something.”

Conclusion? “One Battle After Another” is more than a star vehicle; it’s a mirror held up to Malta’s turbulent politics, a cash injection for our creative sector, and a timely reminder that the fight for accountability is far from over. Whether you queue for popcorn or protest placards, the film invites every Maltese citizen to decide which side of history they want to sit on—both in the cinema and at the ballot box.