There Will Be Blood
Review by Zachary K. Parker
Paul
Thomas
Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” delivers on its
promise in more ways than you
would think. Anderson wisely waits to spill much of the blood until the
third act, where, like the film’s protagonist Daniel Plainview,
Anderson finishes a work so intense and yet strangely compelling.
With an
animal-like expression and coarse look, Daniel Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview,
who begins his dangerous career drilling for oil in an impressive beginning ten
minutes, which have no dialogue.
He raises a young boy as his own
son and business partner, expanding his capitalist grasp of the oil market
across the American nation as the 20th century begins.
Plainview
learns of an ocean of oil from a young Mr. Sunday in Little Boston, California
where he makes a deal with the community (except the Bandys), who seem to be
led by their young preacher, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), the charismatic minister
of the Church of the Third Revelation.
In fact, Anderson
infuses a surfeit of “threes” throughout the film (in action and in words).
Pointing out the appearance of this Trinitarian number is not just PTA fan-boy
enthusiasm, considering how cleverly Anderson
etched multiple references to the book of Exodus within his masterpiece,
“Magnolia.”
Plainview
etches a place of superiority for himself in opposition to the equally supercilious
Eli Sunday. At one point, Plainview
sums up his character, saying, “I have a competition in me. I want no one else
to succeed. I hate most people.”
Being essentially the same
character, both Plainview and
Sunday have surrendered to this “competition” of the soul and thus spend most
of the movie trying to one-up the other through power or God respectively.
Despite Plainview’s
brazen malevolence, he is not the villain but the hero. Anderson
wants us to understand that villains are characters who believe they are
heroes. Accordingly, Plainview does
not only douse victims in gasoline, and then flick and toss a zippo. Whether hero
or villain, Plainview is human, which
includes living a paradox (or several) that gives psychology a reason for
existence.
Plainview’s
character ambiguity makes him all the more memorable, from muddy (and sometimes
bloody) violence to rushing to save his son or honestly confessing his sins.
However, even when caring for his son or half-brother, Plainview’s
relationship with each is on his own terms, ending the way each relationship began.
From
beginning to end, Radiohead’s guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, composes an evocative,
intense soundtrack that swathes the film with a visceral but strangely
transcendent tone.
As a
composition of music, imagery, and words, “There Will Be Blood” is Paul Thomas
Anderson’s magnum opus. Anderson’s
“Boogie Nights” was an impressive tragedy that explored the depths of human
corruption, while his “Magnolia” delved into similarly tragic depths but ended
with a literal raining of frog-like redemption.
In “There
Will Be Blood,” Anderson tells a
sometimes disturbingly dark tale of greed and conceit, whether dealing with men
or God. He digs deeper into the wells of human corruption, but refuses to drain
the viewer from any feeling, masterfully offering a subtle hope for redemption.
Further Analysis (spoilers included): I am anxiously
awaiting the DVD release so I can re-watch it a few times to catch what I
missed the first time. I hope to write more once I see it again.
