There Will Be Blood immediately became one of my all time favourite films when I first saw it. It's a 3 hour epic about an oil baron dealing with personal demons, faith and the corrupting power of money and power, yet it never drags or feels old. Daniel Day Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, the oilman who travels America with his son and partner HW Plainview looking for drilling opportunities. He is approached by Paul Sunday, a quiet, unassuming young man who claims to have knowledge of a place where oil seeps up through the ground. After some interrogation Daniel thanks Paul and send him on his way with payment and goes off to investigate. It is here that he meets Eli Sunday, Paul's identical twin brother and his family and church who are on to his oil seeking ways and try to manipulate him to get money for the church. Drilling is set up in the town and everything seems to be going well. However, a series of events show a change in personal fortunes for Daniel and he becomes more and more bitter. The less said about the rest of the story the better, besides a blinding last 30 minutes which will remain in your mind for weeks after you see it and if you're like me and my friends, you'll quote to each other all the time.
The film is scored by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, denied an Oscar Nomination because of a technicality he provides one of the most affecting soundtracks of the year, creating lots of tension throughout the film which will not be relieved until he is good and ready to. This, paired with the natural imagery Paul Thomas Anderson provides with his direction creates a film which will appeal to all your senses (well... maybe not smell...). Paul Thomas Anderson has had a very interesting career so far. Starting with Hard Eight (the only one of his films I have yet to see), then moving on to Boogie Nights, a very long film about the Porn Industry in the 70s, not the type of film you would think could be a masterpiece, but it showed an early sense of pace and storytelling that is missing from most directors early films. After that we had his first near perfect film with Magnolia, the film that he claims he will never be able to beat. That film looked at the intersecting lives of numerous people and how everything in life is linked, coincidence does not exist. Then we had Punch Drunk Love, the film that made me question everything I thought I knew about Adam Sandler. Then we arrive at the second near perfect film, There Will Be Blood.
He's not a classically trained Director, seeming to have a natural talent for direction, with the only discernible influence being Stanley Kubrick (though lets face it, who isn't influenced by Kubrick). He is a one of a kind director and I would love to say that it was a travesty that he didn't win the Oscar that year, but the Coen Brothers won it instead, and as a big fan of theirs I will instead have to settle for disagreement. However, where the academy got it oh so right was with the best actor gong for Daniel Day Lewis. It's tough to imagine a better performance. It's pantomime and over the top, but fitted into context it works perfectly, it progresses as the film does, as Daniel descends deeper into his own personal hell he gets more and more extrovert.
The film has numerous themes running through it. Capitalism is a pretty big one though, and Religion. With Daniel representing Capitalism and the need to make money, and Eli representing Religion, or possibly religious institutions, it could be argued that he on the same path, but instead of personal wealth, he is after more and more power, and when he doesn't get his way he is more than happy to use people and abuse people until he does. It is a film which questions human nature in this way, makes us think that maybe there's not so much difference between us.
I could talk for hours about this film. But I have decided to stop here. I don't want to put you off with my waffling on about themes and ideas, and I also don't want to reveal too much about specific scenes. Sufficed to say that the film is powerful, thoughtful and surprisingly brisk considering. It encapsulates life into one fragment and I think it does so wonderfully. Watch it now, I couldn't tell you this enough.
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