Jesus save us from your followers!

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2008)

I have a lot of desires to watch this film since i knew that PTA was working in it. The last Friday was finally released in Mexico City due to the Oscars but i was pretty surprised that is only in about 10 theaters in all the city. To make a comparison, the film "Vantage Point" is in about 50 theaters, it's a real shame. Anyway, today i finally have the chance to watch this film in the an art theater and i love it.
Set in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, the film follows Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an oil man who finds the success in the oil business in California by 1911. When Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) tells Daniel that his family's property in Little Boston have oil, Daniel decide to go to Little Boston to buy the property and the rest of the houses near to ensure the manage of the oil in Little Boston. So we are going to see the change of Daniel when finally finds the total success and how he must deal with universal themes as family, religion and his own greed.
The script of this brilliant film was based upon the 1927 novel "Oil!" by Upton Sincalir and is a great story of a man who change everything for money. First he is a normal man who has a partner a kid named H.W. who was helped by Daniel after the dead of his father. They reminds the 1921 film "The Kid" in which Chaplin have an orphan kid as a partner of his work. They try to sell the American Dream to the people but, in accordance of Daniel's rise, he is has a total different personality of at least he can act as he wants and yes, there will be blood. The rest of the characters represents universal themes as religion or family. Eli Sunday (Paul Dano too) is the represent of religion as a prophet who plays with people's faith and doesn't support his own father when and says to him: "God doesn't save stupid people." In the end that same phrase can resume Eli. And the family plays another important role in the film, Danile finds the son he doesn't have in H.W. and they become real family. Later when his half-brother Henry appears, he feel remorse because of his past with his real family. But actually during the film we can't see any real member of Daniel's family and he loose for money those who replace his real family.
And all with a beautiful cinematography with some very dark scenes and others with the sunshine. The recreation of the period is amazing just as the superb cast. Daniel Day-Lewis is memorable like his character and in his case that Oscar really means what it supposed to mean, yes Day-Lewis has the best performance of the year. For me he is just like in "Gangs of New York" as Bill the Butcher. And the other main role is played in a superb way by the young Paul Dano. I have only seen Dano in "Little Miss Sunshine", in which he was good but he really grow up a lot in acting to make this very difficult role.
Conclusion: i love this film, i haven't watch all the films of PTA but by now this is my third favourite and one of my favourites of 2007. A memorable story with epic sizes filmed in a perfect way. It's long, 158 minutes, but it doesn't feels to be that long. Well i'm going to drink a milkshake. 10 out of 10
PS: the Mexican title is "Petroleo Sangriento", that means "Bloody Oil."