There Will be Blood (1997)

another stunning performance by Daniel Day-Lewis

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

 

The movie opens in New Mexico at the turn of the 20^th Century. A self-made man, Henry Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is trying to mine silver by himself. He hires a crew to help him, including a man who has an infant son. Eventually he strikes oil. The man with the child dies, and Plainview adopts the boy, whom he christens H.W. (Dillon Freasier). Nine years later he goes to Southern California. A young man named Paul comes to him with the offer of selling information about a plot of land that has an ocean of oil under it, in Little Boston, California. Plainview investigates and begins to negotiate with Paul’s father.

 

Eli (Paul Dano), a preacher, the twin brother of Paul, who has remained with his family, is a self-proclaimed faith healer. Plainview offers him $10,000 for his father’s land.  He gives him half up-front. Oil is discovered as was expected.  Shortly thereafter, H.W. is injured in an explosion at the oil rig, and becomes deaf.  Eli feels too much time has passed for the other monies. He tries to force Plainview to make good on the oil man’s original offer.  Plainview dismisses Eli as a faith healer because Eli was not able to heal H.W. at the oilman’s request. He will not give him the $5,000 for Eli’s church.

 

Gradually, the character of Plainview changes. At the beginning, we see him as a purposeful hard-working man. But, for all of his apparent nicety we witness that he is full of greed and mistrust even of those who make attempts to be close to him. He is more than willing to betray anyone who seems to stand in his way, or those he perceives as an encumbrance. At times, he seems to act like a madman. He wants to see any competition fail, and he ridicules those he sees as failures. The movie is intense and rugged.

 

The music by Jonny Greenwood goes against type, and most of it, rather than being of the period, is Bartokian and Neo-classical, although the final movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto is used at one point.