Character study of an oilman and the other characters who orbit him

Rating: 9/10 (24 February 2008)

The question the director tries to answer is who are these industrialists and what shapes them. That is the riddle Paul Thomas Anderson tries to solve.
The beginning scene sets the tone, DDL gouging out rock silently in a shallow mine. You get a good sense of the mans determination, and you feel the earthiness of the film.
Thats how the film continues, slowly revealing bits of story that reveal more of Plainviews character.
Evil comes in drips and for Plainview sometimes it floods into his life.
The story is part allegory but can be taken at face value.
The Plainview character shouting out 'i've abandoned my boy' having dual meaning, he put his son in a home, but also it means he has abandoned that innocent, young, and decent part of himself that must have once existed.
Then there's the obvious allegory, the black oil smeared over Plainviews face in a MacBeth style scene. The allegory of darkness consuming the character very obvious.
Then of course there's the other key point of allegory in the film. The interaction between the evangelicals and the oil men. Obviously this is meant to mirror todays political climate. With the Bushites and neo-cons paying homage to the evangelicals to get their votes. This is a running theme throughout the film and the contempt that Plainview has for the evangelicals absolutely drips from the screen.
I wonder if real life evangelicals have a clue how Karl Rove and the neo-con machine laugh at them behind their back.
The movie becomes bleaker and bleaker, and it does start to get depressing. Paul Thomas Anderson has a bit of a clown in him and the ending is classic PTA. It becomes a theater of the absurd as the evangelical preacher comes crawling back to Plainview to beg for money after 'sinning' and blowing his money on the collapsing stock market.
Only to be killed with a bowling pin after being told his milkshake has been drunk by Plainview.
The milkshake analogy is both hilarious and disturbing in its societal implications.
The last scene providing a needed catharsis and some mirth that makes you walk out of the theater with a little levity.
The film overall reminds me somewhat of earlier Lynch work. Sometimes the film can feel a bit stiff like some of Lynchs early work, and the allegory can be a little too intellectual and not organic enough.
Though the film is undeniably intriguing and excellent. This film feels like an important step in PTA's career, a maturation of his style. And a very good piece of cinema in its own right. This is not a film that leaves you after seeing it. It percolates through your system, and like all good films integrates into your being.