After watching this, if you ever think about the early days of drilling for oil, you will remember this film

Rating: 9/10 (25 April 2010)

In this film you will see oil drilling at the turn of the twentieth century with an authenticity, detail and vividness which is breathtaking. The craftsmanship in the making of this film achieves an incredible realism in the oil derricks and equipment so that you are not left feeling that you can see the joins and feeling cheated. The DVD I have has a 15-minute extra which relates clips from the film with actual photographs taken during the period, so you can see the degree of accuracy achieved.
But the film is strong on many layers, not just the documentary but also the presentation of real characters you can identify with so that you experience, not just see, the hardship, danger and brutality of the time and place. The characters are real and multi-faceted, with the plot being driven by logic rather than the political goals of the film makers.
The film does have a few flaws, one of which is having Paul Dano playing both Paul Sunday and his brother Eli. Paul Sunday is instrumental in tipping off Danial about the new oil field on his family's land, and I kept waiting for him to reappear. However the actor is now playing Eli and everyone's forgotten about Paul's existence. And there are a few gaps - how did Danial get to the Assayer's office with a broken leg? But the bottom line is that this is a film I won't forget. Before seeing it, if I thought of early oil drilling I would remember "Boom Town" (1940) but from now on I will think of "There will Be Blood".