Interesting!

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2009)

To me this is a good film, an interesting film, but not a great film. Its biggest asset is Daniel Day-Lewis' fantastic performance. He was deserving of both of his Oscars (My Left Foot also), that's for sure! The story is both confusing and fascinating. Watching a man evolve from hard worker to innovator to oil magnate and in the process watching his soul decay. Perhaps he was in a soul-less state from the start and we just find out as the story unfolds. Initially he appears to be a man with goals but also a loving and caring father, or foster father and a man who shares his wealth and progress with others but ultimately we see his ulterior motives. The production values are quite impressive and the supporting cast is fine. My question is: "What's the moral of this story?" I found myself very unsympathetic to the townsfolk, the so-called preacher Eli, the leach who posed as a brother to Daniel Plainview and even the some of the oil workers. I very often hear film critics saying: "I couldn't relate to the characters in the film" and then they pan it. Well, I didn't like most of the characters in this film save for H.W., Mary Sunday and Fletcher (Ciaran Hinds) who cared for the kid. Still, I liked the film. So what's with these film critics? They use the lamest reasons for panning a film.