A Layered Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2008)

This is my high-school movie review. It contains no true spoilers, only hints.
"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed."
Training a fight dog is simple: give it no love or support. If something is never loved, it does not know how to love, and the outlet for a lack of love is the instinct to eliminate all others on a quest for success.
In the beginning of the movie, Daniel Plainview, played to perfection by Daniel Day-Lewis, is seen as a hard-working, self-employed oil digger who soon finds himself single with a baby boy. As Plainview's business proliferates, he and his boy, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), catch a lucky break and end up striking the mother lode in a small town, named Little Boston. Once an oil accident suddenly occurs, H.W.'s hearing is lost and Daniel's "family man" role starts to shrink. Daniel is becoming richer by the second, and he starts to picture his future home on the beach. Greed dominates Daniel. At one point, he looks at his map and yells, "What's this? Why don't I own this? WHY DON'T I OWN THIS?" His overall frustration can be attributed to his inability to appreciate what he has. Daniel always wants more. Wealth has become Daniel's number one priority, leaving H.W. as an afterthought.
Daniel enters a small town with the expectation of taking complete control, but he soon finds that gaining the full attention of the people will not be easy. Paul Dano plays the role of two identical twins: Paul Sunday, who points Daniel towards Little Boston on his quest for oil, and Eli Sunday, the vessel for the Holy Spirit in Little Boston's Church of the 3rd Revelation. Throughout the entire movie, Daniel and Eli butt heads in a competition for power in the town. They represent a common conflict of their time at the turn of the century: Capitalism vs. Faith. Anderson exploits the weakness of both, portraying Daniel as an over-powerful and heartless tycoon, and Eli as a weak and phony healer. Both characters fail to find the quintessential source of happiness.
The ending of the movie shows Daniel with everything he strived for, yet without happiness. A stunning ending ties the knot to "finish" the struggling relationships that existed in the film. Daniel starts the film with oil on his hands and ends with blood on his hands. His hands: symbols of his willingness to sacrifice anything for money and power.
The tragic ending to this film is followed by a cheery symphony that conveys the message - what seems meaningful is truly meaningless.