Quit drinking my milkshake

Rating: Null/10 (4 April 2008)

"Rafflesia is a parasitic plant growing and feeding on other plants. It has the largest flower of all plants, but there is no biological explanation for its size, which could be many times smaller and still fulfil its function. The only explanation is that it's a product of luxury; a parasite doesn't have to economize." - David Attenborough
Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood", based on Upton Sinclair's satirical "Oil!", stars Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview, an oil prospector whom we first see trudging through a Californian desert. He's alone, presumably searching for oil.
Whilst Anderson's earlier films owned a large debt to Altman and Scorsese, "Blood's" opening scenes strongly recall Kubrick ("2001: A Space Odyssey" and "The Shining") and Herzog, specifically Herzog's "Lessons of Darkness" (Anderson borrows several haunting musical cues from Herzog, along with creepy, silent shots of oil workers and oil wells).
But "Blood" quickly breaks away from these influences and becomes something else entirely. Anderson's film is preoccupied with elaborate con games, virtually every scene revolving around confidence tricksters, fraudsters and hucksters, be they of a religious, familial or corporate/capitalist nature. In short, this is a film exclusively about seeing and hearing, about knowing who to trust and who not to trust and about the absolute truth never residing in plain view.
Savvy to such hucksters, because he is himself one, Plainview is a misanthropic, giant of a man. He isolates himself from mankind and seems disgusted by human beings; he sees through them. This hatred then fuels his budding empire, which he builds with lies and a callous disregard of others. Later he adopts a boy and uses the child to seduce villagers, advertising himself as a family man and trustworthy baron.
"If I SAY I AM," Plainview yells early in the film, "YOU WILL AGREE." It is clear he has a god complex. The name "Daniel" itself means "God's Judgement". Indeed, Plainview doesn't explain himself to anyone. He sees himself as the final word over all things. Elsewhere he says that he wishes "to rule and never explain himself", likens his own body to the "Church of the Third Revelation" and threatens to slit the throats of all those who challenge him. "Don't tell me how to raise my family!" he later yells. And when other oil barons mock him, he growls "I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO DO IT." Earlier, when told by a preacher to allow him to bless a new oil well, Plainview deliberately does the opposite, asserting his will over others.
In short, nobody tells Daniel Plainview what to do. To harbour the will of mere men, he believes, is to deny his own greatness. Plainview even has the power to end the film. "It is finished," he says, the screen fading to black under his almighty spell. It is this ego-mania, that itself fuels his oil empire, his desire to extract, expand and crush the will of others.
In a preacher called Eli Sunday, Planview eventually encounters some resistance. Eli, himself a confidence trickster, seeks to set up a church. While Plainview styles himself as a family man and benevolent oil baron, Eli styles himself as a faith healer, prophet and miracle worker. Of course both men are self serving con artists. The film then develops into a battle between capitalism (profit) and religion (prophet), or rather, one in which capitalism replaces the "holy scripture" as the new religion, Plainview ("I have competition in me!") the triumphant, psychotic face of capital.
Late in the film, Plainview's adopted son loses his hearing. Instead of using his voice, Plainview must now speak to his son through actions. But throughout the film Plainview's "words" and "actions" have been at odds. Now unable to raise his son in his image, Plainview thus sends the boy away. "My blood does not run through him", he says, dismissing the boy, cutting all genetic links.
Hilariously, when others chastise Plainview for sending the boy away, Plainview promptly brings the kid back and pretends to be a good father. This is not love. This is simply Plainview putting on yet another show in order to prove them wrong. He's feeding his own bruised ego.
It eventually becomes clear that Plainview both hates mankind, wishing to remain aloof and above "it", and secretly wishes to "belong". As such, he seeks "blood" and "family" to curb his loneliness (he only allows what he perceives to be the "superior blood of family" to enter his circle, a kind of genetic monopoly akin to the way he runs his business). And so when another confidence trickster approaches Plainview, claiming to be his long lost brother, Plainview quickly welcomes the man into his circle. But though he initially lets his defences down and accepts this man, the truth gradually becomes apparent to Plainview. This man is a con artist and has taken advantage of him! "Do I really have a brother?" Plainview asks, before shooting the man in the head.
Plainview then seeks brotherhood in religion, but such hopes break down when Eli forces Plainview to confess in church. Here Eli wants to expose Plainview, but Plainview, of course, does not like being exposed. He is a snake who thrives on a certain invisibility. But now here he is, laid bare. This confessional scene is reversed toward "Blood's" climax, where Plainview forces Eli to confess that he is a sham and a liar. This confession is not enough, though, and Plainview bludgeons the man to death with a bowling pin. The game ends and Plainview wipes out the last vestiges of competition.
8.5/10 – Though it lacks the scope of Sinclair's novel, "Blood" is a strong tale about pitchmen, be they carriers of Bibles or business cards. See "Elmer Gantry".