THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciaran Hinds
Reviewed by PETER KRAUSZ
Paul Thomas Anderson is a real iconoclast of American cinema, whose films range from Boogie Nights (97) an amusingly incisive exploration of the porn industry in the US, to Magnolia (99) an insightful character study with a resonant subtext, to Punch Drunk Love (02) an incredibly compelling roller-coaster ride of a fraught relationship. His latest film, based on an Upton Sinclair novel, is an expose of the greed endemic to American society, as humanized by the character of Daniel Plainview (a marvellous pun in itself) played by Daniel Day-Lewis.
The film begins at the end of the 19th Century, where we meet Plainview as a driven and obsessive oil prospector. Over the years he becomes a wealthy tycoon in the industry, but his character has, amongst many, a fatal flaw: he is anti-religious and hates any embodiment of “bible-bashing” as anathema to his view of the world. Paul Dano, playing the dual role of twins, one the son of a land-owner, and also a revivalist type preacher, the latter being one of the protaganists that Plainview hates with a vengeance, leading to a catharsis, typical of Anderson’s other films.
Strongly reminiscent of Greed (24), von Stroheim’s masterpiece about the exigencies of capitalism and the impact that had on three characters, as well as Giant (56) Stevens’ sprawling epic of oil-exploration and the wealth and abuse of power that results from it, There Will Be Blood is a compelling drama that evokes the psychological forces that are unleashed when money becomes the sole motivation for existence. Any familial relationships in Plainview’s life is regarded as an impediment to his existence, and when his son has an accident and becomes a deaf-mute, any possible sympathetic paternal feelings are abolished. This in itself leads to a revelation that is quite startling. After all, in a competitive, capitalistic environment, human emotions are secondary to the desire for acquisition above everything.
These major narrative points are presented by Anderson in a series of coruscating tableaux where Plainview becomes a symbol of all this is dangerous and unpleasant in American society. The film ranges through various time periods, culminating in the 1930s, not coincidentally around the time of the Great Depression, and concluding with a final swipe at both society and religion.
It is interesting to note that Anderson reputedly viewed John Huston’s Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (48) in order to get the right look and feel for his film, plus the first 15 minutes of the film are devoid of any dialogue, adding to the unusual approach Anderson took to the narrative. Robert Elswit’s luminous wide-screen cinematography is superb, as is the carefully modulated music score by Jonny Greenwood. It is interesting to note that Anderson dedicates the film to Robert Altman, a similarly iconoclastic director.
This is a high quality, elaborately constructed film, deserving of all the accolades it has received. Not to be missed.
Score:10/10
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
An epic piece of Americana that has impressed critics, audiences and award givers – especially for Daniel Day Lewis’ intense performance.
Based on the novel, Oil, by Upton Sinclair, this is a story of oil exploration and entrepreneuring skill at the beginning of the 20th century. It is not a sweeping saga with romantic overtones like Giant. Rather, this is a picture of grim and constant hard work, of men completely committed to success with oil, who are rugged and competitive and who pay the price emotionally for their obsessive quest.
Daniel Day Lewis does not make many films but has that chameleon-like quality for letting his own personality disappear into a full-on characterisation. He was Christy Brown, the poet with cerebral palsy in his Oscar-winning performance in My Left Foot. He was the rugged pioneer in Last Of The Mohicans and the New York aristocrat in Age Of Innocence. He was also the ruthless gangster in Gangs Of New York. Here, he is Daniel Plainview, a loner who prospects for minerals, then for oil. He adopts the baby of a man who dies in an accident and brings up the boy. When the boy loses his hearing during a shaft explosion, he cannot face it and he lets this relationship go.
More powerful is his conflict with the shrewd son of a rancher who sets up his Church of the Third Revelation, determined to control Plainview, bring in donations and build his own church empire. Paul Dano has the surface innocence and goodness but also the steely determination and competitiveness that mark Daniel which lead him beyond his capacities. Another interesting character is Daniel’s half-brother, Henry, with whom he might have made a relationship after breaking one of his rules and speaking about his past life and his feelings.
This is an American male world, a world of achievement founded on the American dream and establishing American capitalism.
The location photography suggests a past long gone. The musical score has a wide variety of styles that drives the action or lets us rest and pause before the next intensity. (And Daniel Day Lewis’ performance becomes more and more intense leading up to a theatrical violent climax.)
Paul Thomas Anderson received a lot of notice for his Boogie Nights and then his extraordinary covering of many stories in Magnolia. He has adapted Sinclair’s novel and directed a film that offers significant images of American history and its manifest destiny culture.