The Rise of a Nation, The Fall of Man

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2008)

In Paul Thomas Anderson's newest feature based off the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, There Will Be Blood, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) show us how the West and hearts of early Americans were really won. Not by the fairy-tale sweat and hard work of honest workers, but with the blood and deceit of those who possessed a hunger that drove them to succeed at any cost; whether it be the lives and land of those around them, or the hopes and faith of people just looking for something to believe in. Part way through the film, Daniel turns to his imposter brother Henry (played by the believably slimy Kevin J O'Connor), and says to him, "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people." It is at this moment that we realize we are looking into the eyes not of an American pioneer, but the devil himself, who feeds off oil like blood, and is frighteningly aware of exactly who he is.
There Will Be Blood is a story of the American West, it is a story of the dark underbelly of capitalism, and it is a story of religious fanaticism. All interwoven into a tale about the insatiable oilman Daniel Plainview, and his son HW. Daniel encounters many obstacles to his success: HW's hearing loss, the religious fanaticism of Eli Sunday, the 100 miles of pipeline to the coast he needs to build, and the presence of Henry, the man pretending to be his brother. But through the evil-doing and toe-stepping, we are able to glimpse and remember the beauty of what America was, and still could be through the cinematography of Robert Elswit, who draws us in hypnotically to the energy-filled barren landscapes much like he did in Syriana.
This is a movie that is just as beautiful for its form and imagery, as it is for its clear allegories that ring too true for us as Americans in this infant of a country. Nearly the whole film takes place outside in the plains and hills of the American West at the turn of the century. We see expansive images of the land, all shot with natural light, as most of the film is outside. But what really brings the latitude and beauty of this natural light approach (up until the last scene in the film which is shot in the basement of Plainview's new mansion built from oil money) to the forefront is the opening scene of the film. We see Daniel down in a hole that he has dug as he is mining for precious metals. There is light delicately floating down from above, but for all intensive purposes he is working in the dark. Other than his dark figure chopping away with a pickax, all we see are the sparks flying off the wall from each hit into the earth. They are the sparks of his career, but also the sparks of the fire he is about to ignite on the country. This fire imagery picks up in possible the most beautiful shot of the movie when we see a silhouetted Plainview staring at a geyser of oil that is burning 80 feet high against a backdrop of a classic American sunset. The story is elegantly paced as it covers nearly 30 years in time, but gripping and intense on almost a shot by shot basis due as much to the presently pertinent subject matter as to Day Lewis' fearfully realistic performance. After humble beginnings as a lone silver miner, Daniel eventually makes his way to the oil industry. He makes his way to a town in California 100 miles from the coast called Little Boston. He is sent here by Paul Sunday (also Paul Dano) who is the brother of Eli, who leads a congregation in the town called the The Church of the 3rd Revelation. The dichotomy between these two bothers  one who sells out his family for money, and the other who is a false prophet, spreading the word of God  goes hand in hand with the dichotomy between Daniel and Eli. They counter each other on opposite sides of manipulation and extremism. One side makes no apologies for their pursuit of wealth; and the other makes the ultimate apology for his manipulation by claiming divine right by God. It all comes together in the last scene of the film where there is a confrontation between Daniel and Eli. This is 25 years, some lost faith, and millions of oil dollars later. When Eli comes to Daniel to ask him to buy a lease because he has no money, Daniel humiliates him by forcing him to yell that he is a false prophet and God is a superstition. This is eye for an eye vengeance from earlier in the film when Eli humiliates Daniel in front of his congregation by forcing him to yell that he has abandoned his son. Minutes later when Eli lies dead on the floor and Daniel likes exhausted and says, "I'm finished", we realize that they are the same person, and they are both dead. One conquered the West with the blood and manipulated sacrifice of others only to end up in a dystopia sess-pool of his ideals; while the other led countless astray only to end up broken, faith doubting (a line referring to the looks of a fellow parishioner bring up imagery of the modern catholic crisis), and miserably poor enough to come pleading to his arch nemesis.
The film is heavy, but rightfully so, and the relationship between Daniel and HW gives it balance. It is a modern look at the social underbelly that lies so deep in the creation of this country, and can be viewed just as much as an American historical epic, as it can a social and religious allegory of our time.