"There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking."

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2008)

For several decades at the turn of the twentieth century, oil was the life-blood of the United States of America. Ordinary men became millionaires practically overnight, and thriving towns sprung up wherever an ocean of oil was discovered underground. Then again, many men failed in all attempts to achieve wealth through oil drilling, and countless lost their lives in the feverish pursuit of "black gold." Though the period, in the decades before the Great Depression would bring an entire world to its knees, proved a particularly prosperous time for America, it is also marked by significant incidents of corruption, bribery and betrayal. My first film from director Paul Thomas Anderson {who has previously achieved success with 'Boogie Nights (1997),' 'Magnolia (1999)' and 'Punch-Drunk Love (2002)'} is a loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel, "Oil!" An exceptional epic, a grand and sweeping saga of the early years of the oil business, 'There Will Be Blood (2007)' traces the fortunes of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an charismatic prospector who achieves enormous wealth despite (or perhaps thanks to) his disdain for the human race.
Daniel Day-Lewis, an actor whose dedication to his roles has become legendary, is absolutely superb in the starring role, bringing an incredible intensity to Plainview that simply demands your complete and utter attention. The audience hangs onto his every word with an awed hush; when Daniel Plainview is speaking, you know that he means what he says. Throughout his harsh life, he has always expressed unbridled contempt for the people around him; when we first meet Plainview, he is mining alone for silver, his distrust of others even then driving him towards solitude. When necessity forces him to hire additional workers, a horrific drilling accident leaves an infant orphaned, and so Plainview decides to adopt young H.W. (Dillon Freasier, Russell Harvard as an adult) as his own. At first, we consider this to be an uncharacteristic act of kindness, perhaps evidence of a streak of humanity that lurks far within. However, time soon reveals Plainview's scheme, and the unfortunate H.W. finds himself to be little more than a prop, a fresh young family face to be used to underline his father's business propositions.
Another prevalent theme of the film is the hypocrisy of religion. Paul Dano is excellent as Eli Sunday, a local faith-healer for the Church of the Third Revelation. Throughout the film, we are influenced into regarded Eli and Plainview as two opposing entities  namely, as Good versus Evil. However, by the end of the film, the former is shown to be as corrupt and dishonest as any other man. Plainview has long disregarded all religion as superstition, but agrees to participate in a humiliating initiation ceremony in order to secure the leasing rights to an old man's (Hans Howes) tract of land. This demonstration first highlights Eli's underlying streak of depravity, but all is exposed in the Wall Street stock-market crash of 1929, when Plainview sadistically taunts Eli into denouncing himself as a "false prophet" and his God as "a superstition." In a highly unorthodox but exceedingly fascinating conclusion, a drunken Plainview bludgeons Eli to death with a bowling pin, the faith-healer effectively, though inadvertently, martyring himself in order to punish the sins that have gone unpunished for so very long.
'There Will Be Blood' is brimming with astonishing set-pieces, most memorably the "blow-out" of oil from the Little Boston well, and the subsequent oil fire. We do, indeed, detect another momentary streak of paternal humanity in Plainview's frenzied scurry to rescue his permanently-deafened son, both covered from head-to-toe in black veins of oil, though this swiftly dissipates as he abandons his son to tend to the flaming well. P.T. Anderson is known for his bold and unique cinematic style, and his latest film won't appeal to all audiences {my three friends afterward described the film as, respectively, "good," "all right" and "terrible"}, but the expertise with which the film is produced is undeniable. At tomorrow's Academy Awards, I would not be surprised if 'There Will Be Blood' takes out the Best Picture honours, even if {having seen four of the five nominees} my fingers are crossed for a Coen brothers' win.