Blood Runs Thick As Oil: Success Versus Family

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2010)

In the first scene of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (TWBB), the audience sees protagonist Daniel Plainview break his leg in a gold mining accident. Without respite, he drags himself miles across a desolate valley to exchange his gold for dollars. With this determination Daniel has the ability to achieve his personal goals in spite of their otherwise bewildering difficulty. Yet by expending all of his effort and energy into his profession, he begins to lose hold of his humanity. He yearns for someone who is the same as him; someone strong in a world full of weakness and incompetency. Conflicted between his longing for family and his ambition, Daniel portrays a man who is morally torn and suffers from the same entity that gave him so much wealth; greed. Later on in the first scene Daniel has moved on from mining and has begun oil drilling. After one of his fellow workers dies in an accident, he takes in his child. There is no dialogue so that the viewer can see every nuance of Daniels emotion. Since Daniel took in this man's son on his own accord, it shows at this time in his life he is still has compassion albeit strained continually by those around him. Throughout the film you get a sense that Daniel often has to suffer a fool in his line of business, wearing a smile that always seems to lack sincerity. The films other two main characters, H.W. Plainview and Eli Sunday, are both people who have a thirst for success and power. Although they both do not have nearly the same amount of mental fortitude that Daniel has, they also don't have the same distain for people as he does. Eli constantly surrounds himself with people, and through his congregation he gains power. H.W. has Daniel and Mary, two people who care for him and both raise him to be the person that the audience sees at the end of the movie. Of these three characters only H.W. succeeds and achieves happiness, as he has the cunning and knowledge of his father's trade and the love of his future wife Mary. Eli parishes because he tried to beat Daniel at his own game, and lost everything as a result. Towards the end of the film, H.W. wants to create his own company and break away from his father. Daniel, in his senility and bitterness tells him the truth about his origin and exclaims that "You have none of me in you" and claims he doesn't really know who he is. H.W. takes this in stride and even though he feels hurt knows that his father isn't same person that he once was. After this scene the audience sees flashbacks of Daniel and H.W., and that there was a strong bond between them. What remains of Daniel afterwards is only a shell; all of the good that was in him had melted away and only his deplorable qualities remained. The lively Daniel that H.W. grew up contrasts with the reclusive old man that he speaks to.
What pushed Daniel to lose his humility was both the oil accident and his sordid relationship with Henry. Daniel opened up to this imposter, and eventually made him his confident. By having knowing someone who is the same as he is Daniel feels whole again. When Henry's demeanor shows significant weakness, Daniel becomes suspicious; knowing that someone who is blood related to him could not be so feeble. Catching the imposter in his own lies he kills him in a fit of rage and finds himself once again alone. After murdering the imposter, the scene progresses to him looking at a photo of his real brother and breaking into tears. This kind of grief from a man like Daniel tells the audience just how deeply he feels about family. Acclaimed critic Roger Ebert in his review of the film concludes that Daniel has many congruencies between him and Kane from the epic American film Citizen Kane. Ebert believes Daniel as more villainous than Kane since he has no "Rosebud", or a saving grace. I disagree with these comparisons, as I feel that Daniel has the makings of a good man. Ebert claims that Daniel despises all men. While this could be argued as true, it must be noted that Daniel does not despise children, since they are not contaminated by the vices of their parents. Amidst conversation with Henry the audience are shown that Daniel wanted children even as he was growing up. TWBB shows that, while oil is the source of Daniel's success it also serves as his undoing. When talking to the representatives of Standard Oil, Daniel is offered one million dollars; an enormous amount given the times. In response, he says with a hint of sadness in his voice "What will I do with myself?" He had worked his entire life to become wealthy and to simply lie down and take the easy way out definitely did not sit well with him. Moreover, he becomes infuriated when he told if he takes the offer he could take care of his son. Daniel lost a lot of his humility when H.W. lost his hearing, and when his "brother" turns out to be an imposter there was no hope for him. As if all of this was not enough, everything he cared about slipped away from him; with only meaningless wealth remaining. There Will Be Blood is in many respects a tragedy. A man who in the material sense has so much can really have very little when he lives without a purpose. Anderson takes Daniel Day Lewis's acting to the pinnacle of his ability, and through their interpretation of Plainview portrays the greed that encompassed early 20th century America. Success and wealth will not suit a man without family and love. Prosperity requires all of these things; otherwise we will become as empty and unhappy as Daniel Plainview.