Fantastically ambitious and ultimately successful depiction of greed in America

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2008)

Having read a lot of reviews of this movie from other users, it seems to me they are missing the whole point of the film. Many decry the movie as not grabbing their attention via the characters, they find the music distracting, they find that nothing happens. I really don't know what movie these people are watching. This is certainly an ambitious movie and sometimes people react against films which they perceive are overly pretentious or ambitious and that is fine if the film does not make a strong case for the truth of its arguments. However I do not understand the questions of many of the critics of the film here-well, anymore than I understand why so many people like so many terrible movies.
I found the film excellent. Paul Thomas Anderson (of the fantastic Boogie Nights, the very underrated Punch Drunk Love, and the excellent Magnolia) has adapted the novel "Oil" by Upton Sinclair to compose a film about the effect of corrosive greed and religious hucksterism on the development of the West and how, while they may prove temporarily beneficial to their promoters, the ultimate effect of such self-interest may take its greatest toll on the very people who are the prime movers of such self-interested schemes.
The story turns on the egotism of two key characters-Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis, quite possibly the best actor working regularly in the movies these days) and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano perhaps not coincidentally mnemonically-related to one of the most influential evangelists of the 20th century and in a performance which offers a significant counterpoint to Day-Lewis' large shadow, not an easy accomplishment). These two men in the developing West see the interrelated utility of each other's interest, and also, I believe, recognize intuitively, the pre-eminent motivator of their rival/ally as self-interest, setting the stage for the "blood" of the title. They recognize that the other man's interest can be employed in their interests, but that at some point, a clash between the two interests is almost inevitable, so strong is each man's greed.
The film ranges across the dry, open west and some foreshadowing for the eventual confrontation is delineated by the filmmaker. A plot of land heavy in oil is identified for Plainview's purposes by Eli Sunday's brother Paul who extracts a fee for the right to look for oil on the Sundays' property. Plainview duplicitously investigates the land and confirms Paul's tip. In confirming the correctness of Eli Sunday's brother's geological information, foreshadowing of Paul Sunday's wisdom is made. Along the way, Plainview has acquired a child. His parenting methods are unchallenged by associates or the authorities, owing to the wide-openness of the West, and hints about the unethicality of his child-rearing methods are suggested, via the choices Plainview uses to feed his son HW (who is cynically employed by Daniel to convey his trustworthiness to towns whose oil he wishes to get) However, in this unregulated environment, Henry's treatment of his son, which might be considered simply ill-informed given the free-wheeling, unregulated environment of the wild West, veers unquestionably into the unethical. Numerous ethical questions go by the wayside by both Plainview and Sunday. However, the manner in which such issues are overlooked by both men are not done in such a callous manner as to raise the alarms of the community in which they live. Additionally, they are considered leaders and so their behavior might be ignored simply on those grounds. But perhaps more ominously, it is obvious that both men are willfully attempting to obscure such unethical behavior and that these actions will catch up to them at some point in the future.
Anderson deserves his Oscar nomination for direction because the tone of the film is such that it could quite easily veer into sneering self-righteousness or unintentional comedy. More impressively, Anderson, from Sinclair's book, has created two strong and very bad characters whose influence and sway during a period of great change in the American west will have ripple effects down through the years and he allows these characters to shape the direction which the film will go. When a director has such bracing characters, one need simply allow these characters to develop along their natural arcs.
The use of music in the film is unnerving and compelling. Anderson has gotten a fantastic soundtrack from Johnny Greenwood of the band Radiohead. The dissonant, relentless tone foreshadows some of the horrors which one might vaguely expect but whose exact nature is unknown.
As stated, Anderson resists the temptation of becoming overly preachy or allowing his film to become an unintentional parody of the greed and divisive religious beliefs which the key characters of the film promote. The acting, most specifically from Dano and Day-Lewis is electrifying and it is their work, along with a visionary screenplay and capable direction, which makes this a valid nominee for a best picture Oscar in 2008.