There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 opus has already cemented itself as one of the most important cinematic achievements of its time. The title is an ominous warning and a burning proclamation, there will indeed be blood. It is a story of family, resentment, capitalism, religion and madness, but the most recurring thematic aspect is ambition.

The film is driven by Daniel Day Lewis’ enigmatic performance (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor) as Daniel Plainview, an oil prospector on a merciless pursuit of power and wealth during the early 20th century. Beneath this character lies a portrait of male belligerence and misery, his desire to succeed enhanced by his conniving aspiration of others to fail. The actor seems to have invaded Plainview’s every molecule, filling an empty vessel with ruthless purpose and rage. The plot flows smoothly and linearly, building ambiguity and subtle tension. Anderson’s screenplay, Robert Elswit’s cinematography and the set design are of the highest technical order, and the unnerving, slightly eerie soundtrack composed by British band Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood is an experimental triumph on its own.

[Spoilers]

The film opens with an extended sequence shot, aptly encapsulating the lifestyle of a miner turned oil baron in the dying days of the Old West. We learn that Plainview has no family members, friends or loved ones other than his adopted son H.W., who he exploits to present himself as a family man during his business endeavours. His only current goal is to wrest oil from seemingly dry land. Paul Sunday, a farm boy, informs Plainview about the presence of oil on his family’s ranch. We are also introduced to Eli Sunday, Paul’s identical twin and an evangelical preacher with a makeshift congregation, who soon becomes Plainview’s rival: primarily because they share the same golden gleam of greed in their eyes.

We view the acquisition of the Sunday land and the progression of Plainview’s oil drilling through grand and meticulous images. One day, an oil derrick erupts, and Elswit and Greenwood violently combine to create a picturesque cacophony of disaster. The blow deafens H.W. and reveals a colossal amount of oil begging to be unearthed. Plainview merrily fixates on the latter, exclaiming, “No one can get at it except for me!” This is yet another example of Plainview’s mangled and striving obsession with power and riches. His son’s impairment is an unwanted setback though, H.W. would now become a token of sympathy rather than a loving mainstay. Eli believes the cause of the calamity is the absence of his blessing on the oil well and Plainview publicly degrades him, further thickening their feud.

When Plainview is explicating a solution for H.W.’s condition another difficulty presents itself, in the form of a man claiming to be his half-brother Henry. The newcomer projects an avowedly elaborate story and Plainview concurs. We get our largest glance yet at Plainview’s intentions during a monologue between the two: “I want to earn enough

money that I can get away from everyone. I see the worst in people.” Justifying this rare self-reflective declaration, we witness a sequence of jarring events and soon arrive at the most viscerally pertinent scene of the film.

It’s the end of the fourth act and Daniel Plainview is in Eli’s church to be baptised, trying to mask his reluctance. As Plainview is reborn in a holy ocean of regret, we notice that this is just another example of him putting up with anything to reach his goals; he endures humiliation and false religious acceptance to get his oil plan on track. This scene conveys to us that he does actually feel deeply hurt by his own actions but he goes through with them regardless. It’s an acknowledgement of the most ambitious and power-hungry people still feeling the pain of the sacrifices and inhumanity they often bear. Eli understands this and wants Plainview to feel this pain.

Years later, as Plainview’s turbulent Citizen Kane-esque arc comes to its conclusion, we are met by the contour of a man now atrophied to uselessness. Through murder and manipulation, he has achieved everything he ever wanted. Without a goal to work toward, without ambition, he does not know how to function. A desperate meeting with Eli is the conceptual catharsis of the story: we acquire a glimpse of the old Daniel Plainview, relentless and primitively immoral. After he gets his revenge for the baptism, he is ultimately devoid of purpose and expresses his consummation, echoing:

“I’m finished.”

It’s rare for a film to be perfect in all its aspects, but There Will Be Blood comes close. The only plausible flaw is that some scenes may feel long and endearing, but if you do deem this film worthy of your attention, it will certainly reward you for it.