NO COASTING FOR THESE DUDES

THE KINETIC 'VATO SKATEBOARDERS' AND EL PASO NATIVES IN 'ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER' STAND OUT DESPITE THEIR BRIEF SCREEN TIME. IN THEIR WAY, THEY EMBODY THE FILM'S REBELLIOUS SPIRIT.

- BY CARLOS AGUILAR

(Photo illustration by DIANA RAMIREZ De Los; photos by MICHAEL BAUMAN, GILBERT MARTINEZ JR.)

It's F— WORLD WAR III OUT THERE,” says Gilberto Martinez Jr. as he skateboards while holding on to a car partway through Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed crime drama “One Battle After Another,” about a group of revolutionaries being hunted by the U.S. government. Driving the vehicle is Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro), who enlists the help of Mexican American “vato skateboarders,” the neighborhood watch, to guide his friend Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), as he tries to escape the authorities during a chaotic protest when a sanctuary city comes under attack. Gliding through tight indoor spaces and nimbly jumping across rooftops under the night’s sky, the courageous skating quartet is composed of El Paso natives cast locally: Martinez (34), Luis Trejo (30), Elijah Joseph Sambrano (27) and Julian Corral (29).

That Anderson included them in this searingly political narrative as a heroic force felt validating. “As skateboarders we've kind of always been the underdogs, seen as the outcast or the rebels,” says Martinez during a recent video interview with the whole squad gathered. “But in a way we're showing freedom, we're not trying to be put in a box, we express ourselves through this skateboard. We're trying to give hope to other kids like us.”

Their skill set on the board landed them the part, but their presence influenced the production beyond their screen time.

“We all speak Spanish, and we were helping them on set to translate a lot of the things that they needed,” Martinez said.

Martinez and Trejo, who've been “homies” for a decade, learned about the opportunity from a mutual friend, Mark Martinez, involved in the El Paso film industry. Sambrano found out from a bartender pal, while Corral got word from the owner of the tattoo shop where he works. The four of them knew each other from hanging around the border town.