Please people dig, you'll find out that there's gold

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2008)

I have watched this film two times. First time I hated it, but that was because I was with someone who hated, I was easy to manipulate, and I did have a grasp on film in general. But I recently saw it again, seven months later. Then I was just starting to become obsessed with film and didn't have a lot of knowledge on classic film and film in general. Now I have an identity in what I like and what I want to do as a director and I know what I like and what I don't like in pacing, staging, scenery, acting, & directing in general. If you just watch this film you might see something in an only evil mood or a beautiful and powerful movie, but not know exactly why. A lot of people I know criticize the film for lacking humanity, but that is just not the case. Some people who love the film compare it to Citizen Kane and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, two of my favorites, but that's not the case either. Those films are easier and fun, they engulf you in their grandness in cinema but not in emotional baggage. The film is true to Upton Sinclair in that it shows the worst of Oil and also the worst of religion. But unlike Upton Sinclair, the film is not boring.
Paul Dano has gotten some flack for his performance in the film, but the only problem is that he is a little too young, but you really dislike him and Plainview at the same time. Actually, in the beginning of the film I did not hate Plainview, even the second time I watched knowing how the character develops, I didn't hate him. That proved to me that Plainview was an unhealthy and sick man and even had a lot of hate in his heart, but he was not completely evil like I thought he was the first time I saw the film. The thing that makes the film interesting are questions: How does a man become a recluse and have a pure hatred towards common people? Does this man love his son? How can he love his son and leave him on a train at the same time? Yes Daniel Plainview may be one of the worst people living in the world in There Will Be Blood, but what makes it deep is that he shows humanity. People interpret the end with his son wrong a lot of the time and take that as the truth, which is not the case. This man is a very sick man, mentally. He did love his son, he loved his business more, but he did love his son. He is one of those men who can really only focus on one thing fully and everything else will fall in place, or not. Plainview is a recluse and it could be the cause of something from his past or he can just be a naturally troubled man. He truly does hate most people he meets, but he does have love for his son, but because of his sickness it has to be convenient for him or else he will just run away from you, like when he leaves his son on the train. When Michael Corroleone's first wife dies in The Godfather he becomes a very cold and empty man, only their for competition. The same thing happens to Plainview. He snaps into pure coldness and hatred when he finds out the truth about the one man he trusted after his son could not hear anymore.
Daniel Day Lewis in my opinion is the best actor alive. De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholoson are not the same anymore and the only guy who is close right now is probably Sean Penn. Just look at his career as a whole. His performances are so varied whether it be the truly maniacal Butcher, Christy Brown, Hawkeye, Archer, Gerry Conlan, and then masterful Plainview. He really reminds me of an Olivier or Brando. The only criticism I have of Lewis is that I haven't seen him do anything great that was a small film. The Boxer was OK, Ballad of Jack and Rose was OK, but there not merely as good performances as the ones I mentioned earlier which are all very grand films in one way or the other. I guess what I am trying to say is that I would love to see him do something as himself like how Brando did Last Tango In Paris.
Paul Thomas Anderson is truly the most bold and talented young filmmaker in Hollywood and my favorite young filmmaker. He has not been afraid to go into different material. He has not been afraid to do a character study like Blood, an ensemble piece like Magnolia and Boogie Nights, and a strange, quirky, Kubrick like romantic comedy like Punch-Drunk Love. Blood is a period piece that examines the worst of Oil and Religion and studies the power and sickness of a man. The thing that gives the film humanity at the end is the boy grown up and happy and the ending. The ending has been criticized by some but I think it fits completely because It shows how pathetic and miserable Plainview and Sunday are. The viewer feels like this fight and cruelness is ridiculous and it is, and it is ended in a ridiculous song.