There Will Be BloodThis is a war of egos. There Will Be Blood tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an oil man who comes to Little Boston to buy up land which he has been informed has a wellspring of oil underneath the ground. Daniel, with his adopted son H.W. (Dillon Freasier), first solicit the Sunday family, since their tip came from the son Paul. However, Daniel encounters Paul's twin, Eli (Paul Dano)--a pastor for the town church, The Church of the Third Revelation, who is wise to Daniel's true intentions about buying the land from his family. Daniel and Eli begin their conflict not just because the two of them share opposing points of view, but because they are more similar than they would like to admit, and can see the other for what he truly is...and that reflection is a threat to them both.
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From the silent opening, the beginning of Paul Thomas Anderson's film speaks volumes. Daniel has spent years mining for gold, with little success; however, Daniel possesses many key qualities which see him through: he is adaptive, he is smart, but most of all, he is tenacious. Daniel refuses to yield and allow another to get the upper hand on him, and this is secretly due to his concealed hatred for humanity. To Daniel, he sees in people a mass of stupid rabble, looking to leech away at his hard work and trying to get what he has without putting in the work he has done. The great irony of this mentality is that Daniel himself is guilty of much of this same behavior; in truth, he is often guilty of this when others are not. This miserly paranoia is part of what makes Daniel such a ruthlessly successful businessman. Furthermore, Daniel is crafty, and is not above exploiting any opportunity to engender himself into the hearts of his prospective consumers. H.W. serves Daniel well as a token figurehead, representing his "plain speaking, down home" approach to snaking his way into the hearts of those who have what he wants. It is likely that Daniel believes that he owns some responsibility for the boy, since his father was the first casualty in Daniel's crusade to become rich enough to leave the world behind, but all the same, Daniel won't neglect this golden opportunity to make some money for his trouble. But the truth is that Daniel is cautious because he does know that others will take advantage of him if they can. Daniel is not used to being challenged, since he has found his calling--if by accident--and doesn't want to fall on the same hard times he had when he was just prospecting. When Daniel finds himself confronted by Eli, it sets the hairs on his neck up, since he recognizes Eli's cunning as being like his own, and sees the power plays which Eli makes, and is forced to fight him on a different set of terms. Daniel is a salesman, and he waltzes into Little Boston selling the American dream, with tales of building schools and cultivating the land to produce bread; he has realized in his dealings with the Sunday Family that bread is not abundant, since their land is so poor to grow upon. Eli, however, sells God and the kind of religious fanaticism which goes with faith healing and establishing himself as the crux upon which the community must rotate. The truth is that they are both selling themselves, but they are so greedy, so unwilling to relinquish their vision of self-aggrandizement, that their feud begins to boil over to explosive levels of pettiness and humiliation, and worse still.
"I have a competition in me...I want no one else to succeed." Daniel tells these words in confidence to his brother, Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor)--only, Henry isn't all he claims to be, and when Daniel deduces this, after he has finally let his guard down enough to feel he can trust someone, the pain of being tricked is too much for him to bear. Daniel sees shadows lurking behind every corner; in the absence of trust and love, Daniel feels only hatred and contempt. As the fire consumes the oil, so too does Daniel's greed and malice consume him. To the casual observer, it might be that Eli's solicitation for the blessing of the oil well is simply a measure of good faith; Daniel correctly suspects that it is a selfish play to suck away at his glory by Eli, so Daniel reverses that power play by not only blessing the well in the name of Eli's younger sister, Mary (Sydney McCallister)--whom H.W. grows attached to--but steals the prayer for himself. Eli then rubs this in Daniel's face when accidents plague the well, and Daniel retorts that the men are tired because they are spending too much time at his church. This back and forth is an escalation and you can almost hear the kettle whistle. When the well catches fire, and H.W. suffers his accident, the screaming forth of flame is as if the fires of Hell have opened up...perhaps not a view shared by Daniel, since he is not a man of God. But given Eli's demagoguery, neither is Eli for that matter, but that doesn't exclude Eli from exploiting his position when the time comes; and that time comes when Daniel finally needs to lease the Bandy land for his pipeline. Old man Bandy (Hans Howes) is a faithful member of Eli's church, and makes it clear that if Daniel wishes for his pipeline to be built, he must become baptized in the Church of the Third Revelation. Needless to say, this is Eli's pièce de résistance in his contest of wills with Daniel, and he pushes him to humiliating levels. Maybe Bandy does truly believe and wish Daniel's soul washed clean, but more importantly, it shows just how far Eli's pull is in Little Boston and elucidates his influence is greater than Daniel's--a thought which is even more devastating to Daniel than his temporary submission. Daniel's baptism is not from love for God, but of attrition, a cost he must pay...an investment not of the soul, but for worldly gain. Daniel's reaction to Standard Oil is spurred because of his intrinsic spite toward others who seek to leech away at his efforts, and his aggressive attitude toward the admittedly weaselly corporate plugs is unhinged. To Daniel, since he expects that others must be motivated for the same reasons to prosper as he is, they too must be full of hatred, because he is full of hatred. When an older H.W. (Russell Harvard) finally confronts him at the end, indicating he wishes to sprout his wings and fly--go into business for himself--Daniel's reaction is hardly fatherly. He sees H.W. as just another competitor--or worse, a traitor--and actively seeks to hurt him, because he feels he is being attacked. There is a flash for Daniel here of better days, when he and H.W. enjoyed some time outside when they had newly arrived in Little Boston. H.W. and Mary playing near the construction of the well which would play such an important part in all of their lives, Daniel and H.W. playing with his hat. For a moment, you want this to be the great revelation for Daniel, the moment when he realizes that the greatest wealth he could ever hope to achieve is to show his son that he has not abandoned him, that he loves him; but that land has long since been leeched dry, and only the husk remains.
Recommended for: Fans of a deeply moral tale of the high cost of avarice, oil being just that convenient excuse men like Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday have to find a way to triumph themselves over others. But the top of the hill is narrow, and there is room for but one...at least that's the way Daniel views it.
"I have a competition in me...I want no one else to succeed." Daniel tells these words in confidence to his brother, Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor)--only, Henry isn't all he claims to be, and when Daniel deduces this, after he has finally let his guard down enough to feel he can trust someone, the pain of being tricked is too much for him to bear. Daniel sees shadows lurking behind every corner; in the absence of trust and love, Daniel feels only hatred and contempt. As the fire consumes the oil, so too does Daniel's greed and malice consume him. To the casual observer, it might be that Eli's solicitation for the blessing of the oil well is simply a measure of good faith; Daniel correctly suspects that it is a selfish play to suck away at his glory by Eli, so Daniel reverses that power play by not only blessing the well in the name of Eli's younger sister, Mary (Sydney McCallister)--whom H.W. grows attached to--but steals the prayer for himself. Eli then rubs this in Daniel's face when accidents plague the well, and Daniel retorts that the men are tired because they are spending too much time at his church. This back and forth is an escalation and you can almost hear the kettle whistle. When the well catches fire, and H.W. suffers his accident, the screaming forth of flame is as if the fires of Hell have opened up...perhaps not a view shared by Daniel, since he is not a man of God. But given Eli's demagoguery, neither is Eli for that matter, but that doesn't exclude Eli from exploiting his position when the time comes; and that time comes when Daniel finally needs to lease the Bandy land for his pipeline. Old man Bandy (Hans Howes) is a faithful member of Eli's church, and makes it clear that if Daniel wishes for his pipeline to be built, he must become baptized in the Church of the Third Revelation. Needless to say, this is Eli's pièce de résistance in his contest of wills with Daniel, and he pushes him to humiliating levels. Maybe Bandy does truly believe and wish Daniel's soul washed clean, but more importantly, it shows just how far Eli's pull is in Little Boston and elucidates his influence is greater than Daniel's--a thought which is even more devastating to Daniel than his temporary submission. Daniel's baptism is not from love for God, but of attrition, a cost he must pay...an investment not of the soul, but for worldly gain. Daniel's reaction to Standard Oil is spurred because of his intrinsic spite toward others who seek to leech away at his efforts, and his aggressive attitude toward the admittedly weaselly corporate plugs is unhinged. To Daniel, since he expects that others must be motivated for the same reasons to prosper as he is, they too must be full of hatred, because he is full of hatred. When an older H.W. (Russell Harvard) finally confronts him at the end, indicating he wishes to sprout his wings and fly--go into business for himself--Daniel's reaction is hardly fatherly. He sees H.W. as just another competitor--or worse, a traitor--and actively seeks to hurt him, because he feels he is being attacked. There is a flash for Daniel here of better days, when he and H.W. enjoyed some time outside when they had newly arrived in Little Boston. H.W. and Mary playing near the construction of the well which would play such an important part in all of their lives, Daniel and H.W. playing with his hat. For a moment, you want this to be the great revelation for Daniel, the moment when he realizes that the greatest wealth he could ever hope to achieve is to show his son that he has not abandoned him, that he loves him; but that land has long since been leeched dry, and only the husk remains.
Recommended for: Fans of a deeply moral tale of the high cost of avarice, oil being just that convenient excuse men like Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday have to find a way to triumph themselves over others. But the top of the hill is narrow, and there is room for but one...at least that's the way Daniel views it.