Rebel

To rebel is to defy. It is to understand that the world as it is can and should be better.

So it’s no surprise rebels were everywhere on our movie screens in 2025. Filmmakers in the U.S. and abroad depicted the lengths to which people will go to stand up against the bland (and at times violent) vision of conformity they see around them. It’s a theme that comes through most organically in these films’ costume designs.

In “Wicked: For Good,” for instance, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba Thropp stands apart from the glossy superficiality of the Emerald City. Paul Tazewell, an Oscar winner earlier this year for the first “Wicked,” once again wrapped Elphaba’s defiant spirit in the very fabric of her costumes. As she fights for animal rights and defies the authority of that fraud of a Wizard, the titular witch dons dresses and capes (and, yes, even a knitted cardigan that had the internet abuzz) that ground her in that land “made of dirt and rock and loam” she sings about.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in “Wicked: For Good.”

(Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures)

Not that all rebels choose to stand out. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically urgent thriller “One Battle After Another” — costumed by four-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood — members of the French 75 revolutionary group know better than to draw attention to themselves.

“Take Deandra [played by Regina Hall], for instance, who’s always lived off the grid,” Atwood tells The Envelope. “They have lives, but they are still somewhere on the wanted list, and some weirdo can suddenly know who they are. So they really have to blend in. They have to be not noticeable. That was a big goal with everybody’s costume in the movie, all the French 75 costumes — and Leo as well.”

That’s why DiCaprio spends much of the film in a red bathrobe, making him both incredibly hard to miss and also decidedly ordinary-looking. “Would you wear it the whole time?” Atwood remembers asking herself: “Would he get rid of it? And Paul goes, ‘Why would you take off your clothes if you’re running?’”

Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Benicio Del Toro in “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Atwood’s choice to put Benicio Del Toro in a gi and a turtleneck was similarly driven by this approach: These are all people who move through the world wanting to disrupt the system without making such disruption all that conspicuous. Here we may also add the off-the-rack suits Teddy and Don (Jesse Plemons and Aiden Delbis) wear in “Bugonia” to face their kidnapped CEO; the beret-and-turtleneck-wearing revolutionary (Richard Ayoade) in “The Phoenician Scheme”; and the stylish, delightfully unbuttoned shirts Wagner Moura wears throughout “The Secret Agent.”

Not all instances of rebellion are so obviously political. Take Harry Lighton’s deliciously kinky dom-com “Pillion,” which finds shy young Colin (Harry Melling) entering into a BDSM relationship with an enigmatic biker called Ray (Alexander Skarsgård).

“Ray’s an anomaly; he’s the rebel, you can’t place him,” costume designer Grace Snell says. When we first meet him, he is wearing a striking white leather biking outfit: “I wanted him to be like a light at night on this bike and a shiny toy for Colin.”

Harry Melling, left, and Alexander Skarsgård in “Pillion.”

(Festival de Cannes)

The leather and kink gear that Skarsgård, Melling and the rest of the “Pillion” cast wear allowed Snell to give audiences the Tom of Finland fantasy Lighton’s film clearly demands. Yet the film is about a quieter rebellion.

“Colin’s kind of testing his boundaries and understanding who he is as a gay man, and exploring what that means for him,” Snell says. It’s why he spends much of the film in uniform, as a traffic warden, as a member of a barbershop quartet, and later as the new member of Ray’s biker gang.

“Pillion” is about self-fashioning at its most elemental: how gear and uniforms, roles and positions, can help you bloom into yourself; how in losing yourself in another you can find who you want to be.

Blending such a lesson in ways political and personal is Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” also costumed by Atwood. The musical is framed by the tension between Valentin (Diego Luna), a righteous revolutionary, and Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay hairdresser, who share a prison cell under Argentina’s military regime.

Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Roadside Attractions)

Along with designer Christine L. Cantella, Atwood aimed to honor the history the film was depicting and the message it embodies. “Not only is it set in a revolutionary time, but it’s also about two people opening each other’s eyes to the world,” Atwood says, “in a way that is such a great message for today.”

Atwood and Cantella had to balance the dingy reality of the prison — where Molina finds modest beauty in his silk robes — and the movie musical he loses himself in — where Jennifer Lopez’s Aurora is dressed like a silver-screen siren throughout. Lopez’s big number, where she dons an ode to the all-white ensemble Chita Rivera wore in the original Broadway show, including a fedora to match, is all about the lure of escapist Hollywood fantasy: “Turn off the lights and turn on your mind,” she sings.

As the ending of the musical attests, there may be a way to do both, to be politically engaged and still enjoy the beauty of the world around you. For, as these varied films attest, a rebel doesn’t just voice their discontent at the status quo. They wear it proudly.

UN refugee agency says women and children arriving ‘exhausted and severely traumatised’ after fleeing eastern DRC.

More than 84,000 people have fled to Burundi from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amid a Rwanda-backed rebel offensive near the countries’ shared border, according to the latest United Nations figures.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that Burundi had reached a “critical point” amid the influx of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing a surge in violence in the DRC’s South Kivu province.

“Thousands of people crossing the border on foot and by boats each day have overwhelmed local resources, creating a major humanitarian emergency that requires immediate global support,” UNHCR said, noting that more than 200,000 people had now sought refuge in Burundi.

“Women and children are particularly affected, arriving exhausted and severely traumatised, bearing the physical and psychological marks of terrifying violence. Our teams met pregnant women, who shared that they had not eaten in days.”

The exodus began in early December when the M23 rebel group launched an assault that culminated in the capture of Uvira, a strategic city in the eastern DRC that is home to hundreds of thousands of people.

Refugees started crossing into Burundi on December 5, with numbers surging after M23 seized control of Uvira on December 10. On Wednesday, M23 said it was withdrawing after international condemnation of its attack on the city.

In Burundi, displaced families face difficult conditions at transit points and makeshift camps with minimal infrastructure, the UN said.

Many have sheltered under trees without adequate protection from the elements, and a lack of clean water and proper sanitation.

About half of those displaced are children less than the age of 18, along with numerous women, including some who are pregnant.

Ezechiel Nibigira, the Burundian president of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), reported 25,000 refugees in Gatumba in western Burundi, and nearly 40,000 in Buganda in the northwest, most of them “completely destitute”.

Augustin Minani, the administrator in Rumonge, told the AFP news agency that the situation was “catastrophic” and said “the vast majority are dying of hunger.”

Refugees recounted witnessing bombings and artillery fire, with some seeing relatives killed and others forced to abandon elderly family members who could not continue the journey.

M23 withdrawal

M23 announced earlier this week it would begin withdrawing from Uvira, with the group’s leadership calling the move a “trust-building measure” to support United States- and Qatari-led peace efforts.

However, the Congolese Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya dismissed the announcement as a “diversion”, alleging it was meant to relieve pressure on Rwanda.

Local sources reported that M23 police and intelligence personnel remained deployed in the city on Thursday.

The offensive extended M23’s territorial gains this year after the group captured the major cities of Goma in January and Bukavu in February.

The rebel advance has given M23 control over substantial territory in the mineral-rich eastern DRC and severed a critical supply route for Congolese forces along the border with Burundi.

M23 launched the Uvira offensive less than a week after the presidents of the DRC and Rwanda met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, to reaffirm their commitment to a peace agreement.

The rebels’ takeover of the city drew sharp criticism from Washington, with officials warning of consequences for what they described as Rwanda’s violation of the accord. Rwanda denies backing M23.

The fighting has killed more than 400 civilians in the DRC and displaced more than 200,000 since early December, according to regional officials and humanitarian organisations.

The broader conflict across the eastern part of the country, where more than 100 armed groups operate, has displaced more than seven million people, the UN refugee agency says.

A cautious calm has settled over the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) city of Uvira in South Kivu province, as residents begin emerging from their homes following its capture by M23 rebels.

The capture earlier this week threatens to derail a United States-brokered peace agreement, signed with much fanfare and overseen by President Donald Trump a week ago, between Congolese and Rwandan leaders, with Washington accusing Rwanda on Friday of igniting the offensive.

Regional authorities say at least 400 civilians, including women and children, have been killed in the violence between the cities of Bukavu and Uvira, both now under M23 control.

Al Jazeera is the only international broadcaster in Uvira, where correspondent Alain Uaykani on Saturday described an uneasy calm in the port city on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika, which sits directly across from Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura.

Uaykani said government and allied militias, known as “Wazalendo”, which had been using the city as a headquarters, began fleeing even before M23 fighters entered.

Residents who fled as the Rwanda-backed group advanced have begun returning to their homes, though most shops and businesses remain shuttered.

“People are coming out, they feel the fear is behind them,” Uaykani said, though he noted the situation remains fragile with signs of intense combat visible throughout the city.

Bienvenue Mwatumabire, a resident of Uvira, told Al Jazeera he was at work when fighting between rebels and government forces broke out, and he heard gunshots from a neighbouring village and decided to stop, but said that “today we have noticed things are getting back to normal.”

Baoleze Beinfait, another Uvira resident, said people in the city were not being harassed by the rebels, but added, “We will see how things are in the coming days.”

M23’s spokesperson defended the offensive, claiming the group had “liberated” Uvira from what he called “terrorist forces”. The rebels say they are protecting ethnic Tutsi communities in eastern DRC, a region that has seen fighting intensify since earlier this year.

The offensive, which began on December 2, has displaced more than 200,000 people across South Kivu province, according to local United Nations partners.

Rwanda accused of backing rebels

South Kivu officials said Rwandan special forces and foreign mercenaries were operating in Uvira “in clear violation” of both the recent Washington accords and earlier ceasefire agreements reached in Doha, Qatar.

At the UN Security Council on Friday, US ambassador Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of leading the region “towards increased instability and war,” warning that Washington would hold spoilers to peace accountable.

Waltz said Rwanda has maintained strategic control of M23 since the group re-emerged in 2021, with between 5,000 and 7,000 Rwandan troops fighting alongside the rebels in Congo as of early December.

“Kigali has been intimately involved in planning and executing the war in eastern DRC,” Waltz told the UNSC, referring to Rwanda’s capital.

Rwanda’s UN ambassador denied the allegations, accusing the DRC of violating the ceasefire. Rwanda acknowledges having troops in eastern DRC but says they are there to safeguard its security, particularly against Hutu militia groups that fled across the border to Congo after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

The fall of Uvira has raised the alarm in neighbouring Burundi, which has deployed forces to the region. Burundi’s UN ambassador warned that “restraint has its limits,” saying continued attacks would make it difficult to avoid direct confrontation between the two countries.

More than 30,000 refugees have fled into Burundi in recent days.

The DRC’s foreign minister urged the UNSC to hold Rwanda accountable, saying “impunity has gone on for far too long”.

A report by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats project said Rwanda provided significant support to M23’s Uvira offensive, calling it the group’s most consequential operation since March.

Al Jazeera’s UN correspondent Kristen Saloomey said UNSC members were briefed by experts who noted that civilians in DRC are not benefitting from the recent agreements negotiated between Kinshasa and Kigali.

More than 100 armed groups are fighting for control of mineral-rich eastern DRC near the Rwandan border. The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced across the region.

The M23 group is not party to the Washington-mediated negotiations between DRC and Rwanda, participating instead in separate talks with the Congolese government hosted by Qatar.