Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007
There Will Be Blood opens with an, almost wordless, scene in which Daniel Plainview (
Daniel Day Lewis), the all encompassing, all consuming, monster of a man, that we will come to intently dislike over the next 2 hours, scrabbles around in a dark cave, deep underground in a makeshift mine. There's this noise, a doom ladened tune, wonderfully scored by
Johnny Greenwood, playing over the images, foretelling this epic of greed, of envy, of the dark undertone of the American success story. Plainview, initially mining for silver, finds oil in the cave and so begins Anderson's opus, loosely based on the
Upton Sinclair novel of 1927, '
Oil!', chronicling Plainview's rise to riches, the oil boom of the early 20th century and the price paid for a life seeking only money.
For followers of Anderson's work,
There Will Be Blood, seems something of a departure, as it follows a more classical narrative strand, as opposed to his vast ensemble epics
Boogie Nights (1997) and
Magnolia (1999). His newest film feels more in line with the great tomes of Hollywood classics than say his last film,
Punch-Drunk Love (2002), which thrived on the outskirts of mainstream cinema. Here we see Anderson, although strictly on his terms, embrace the 'American Dream' picture, it's the ultimate canvas to display the visual flair, originality and style that has deservedly gained acclaim from audiences and critics alike. Winner of two Oscars, Best Actor for Daniel Day Lewis and Best Cinematography for
Robert Elswitt,
There Will Be Blood witnesses Anderson's rise from the shadows to the main players table.
H.W(.) and Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis)
After that mind altering opening gambit, we settle with Plainview's good fortune, his budding company starts to thrive and the oil starts to gush. He builds his reputation by branding himself 'a family man', often with his young, adopted son, H.W (
Dillon Freasier), by his side; the young boy came into his care by chance, his father dying in the very oil his son appears to be born in, H.W is even faux-anointed by the black gold, with the oil daubed on his forehead when cradled by his father as a baby. H.W becomes Plainview's only link to the human world, so obsessed by the oil, the money, that he divorces himself from people, often finding nothing good about them, admitting that '
when I look at people, I see nothing to like'.
The years pass by and before the wealth and the oil engulf him, Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (
Paul Dano), a young farm hand, offering him a rich find of oil, on his family's land in Little Boston, California, for a price. Under the pretense that they're 'quail hunting', Plainview and H.W set out to scan the claim, they come across the Sunday family ranch, situated in the middle of barren, desert land, enshrouded in poverty and destitution, taking the family up on their offer of food, they pitch a tent and take up the search for oil. It's here we meet Eli Sunday (Paul Dano, again) and, like Plainview and H.W, we wonder if we've been hoaxed; Paul Sunday never reappears and this quandary is never resolved, claiming to be Paul's brother and a practicing local preacher, Eli acts as Plainview's mirror image, his nemesis, as the two lock horns from the start.
Eli Sunday (Paul Dano)
In obtaining the land, Eli manages to coax more money from Plainview under the banner that it's 'for his church', Plainview goes about setting up oil rigs and camps, telling the people of the town that he intends to help the community with roads, schools and water. Eli begins to fight Plainview for the hearts and minds of the people; the big business man and the preacher, one through the power of commerce and the other through the power of religion. Anderson plays one of against the other, both objecting to the others methods and intension, Plainview believes Eli to be a fraud, whilst Eli believes Plainview to be corrupt and the devil incarnate. It's classic territory, wealth and faith, and Anderson finds nothing good to say in either; both are equally abhorrent as the other, both are to blame for the state of society, neither offer anything tangible or real and both will succumb to their false beliefs.
Up until a certain point, Plainview's churlish and forthright attitude is something akin to charming, his love for H.W keeps him grounded and, even, likable. The scene in which the layers of the onion start to peel can be seen in the awesome oil rig burning sequence, where H.W, getting to close too the action, has his eardrums destroyed by an erupting geyser. Anderson has always been something of a master when it comes to sound and here he demonstrates a masterful execution, of not only the lack of sound, but the revelation of character. With H.W now deaf, Plainview can't keep the smile of his face as he witnesses the scene before him, the oil rigs burning bright orange in the dark black sky, his love is not for the child but for the wealth. Soon he tires of the boy's needs, he has no time for him now he's deaf and dispenses with him when the opportunity beckons.
Daniel Day Lewis, who incidentally is creepily brilliant here, as Plainview is nothing if not a meat slab of rage and hate, of money and wealth, of great love and great pain, a searing, apocalyptic mess, of contradiction and hurt. You could easily feel sorry for him, those eyes are that of a 8 year old boy; possibly why his strongest relationship is with his adopted son, they appear moist, ready to bawl, yet look closer and you can see flames burning in them. Disquieting, abstract but all too real, Plainview is the American success story incorporated, a none to subtle but frightening harbinger of things to come, a messenger made from blood stained money. In him you see
Charles Foster Kane, without doubt a reference not far from Anderson's conception, a man who has neither the capacity or will for human weakness, in the end he'll lose everything, obvious from the first notes of Greenwood's score.
A film of scale; landscapes that engulf the screen, oil rigs that burn as bright as the sun, the looming and over-powering performances of Lewis and Dano; who the latter, on holding his own against a formidable lead role, shows real promise for this fine young actor,
There Will Be Blood displays a real signifier of intent from Anderson. This is a film of biblical proportions, playing with the great American cinematic themes of money, greed, religion, wealth and society; reminiscent of those auteur films of 70's and along side those films, Anderson's film can be read as an allegory for the current climate, intentional or otherwise. A film that needs to be seen more than once, I can only highly recommend this film but don't imagine for a second that everyone will like it; to be honest I wasn't sure for a good day or two, but those themes, images (startling) and words play on you, over and over, until you find yourself muttering to yourself - 'I drink your milkshake' - and then, it all makes sense.
Originally posted on:
Film for the Soul