Industrialism is a Filthy Business

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2014)

Industrialism and Capitalism can be a Dirty, Ugly Thing just like Sucking Oil from the Earth. Like a Vampire the Insatiable Oil Tycoons have not a Scintilla of Conscience about Humanity at the Price of Their Grandeur and Survival as Larger than Life Demi-Gods.
This is an Ugly Film with a Lead Character that Exudes Ugliness. There is a Human Being with a Soul there in Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) that can be Witnessed on Occasion with His Infant Son and even up to and Including the Pivotal Tragedy of a Rig Accident.
After that though, He is Completely Corrupted by Greed and Steroidal Ambition. He is now as Handicapped as His Son. The Film isn't any Fun and it is a Hard and Filthy Story about a Hard and Filthy Industrialist. An Almost Demonic Persona that Thinks He is Owed all He can Get because He gets His Hands Dirty.
It is a Mesmerizing, Haunting Movie that is a Reflection of a Time when Simple Folks, like Sheep Herders and Ranchers are Easily Hoodwinked by Smooth Talking Money Men and Equally Silver Tongued Evangelist. It's the Second Birth of the Nation, the Beginning of the Twentieth Century.
There are No Heroes Here and no one to Root for, it just Holds up a Soiled Mirror to Our Past as it Shines a Light on Our Present. Like the Blood of Our Veins, Oil is Still the Life of Our Nation. Director Paul Thomas Anderson Hardly Manages to Hide the Fact that this Commodity, in 2007, is Still a Source for much of Today's Suffering. It is not a Pretty Picture and Neither is This.