There Will Be Blood

Rating: 9/10 (7 December 2008)

"There Will Be Blood", directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is perhaps one of the greatest films of our time and can immediately be considered a classic. Its entire structure, composition of actors, story, and cinematography all help to create a film that, although three hours in length, seams to fly through leaving you dying for more.
Daniel Plainview, played wonderfully by Daniel Day-Lewis, is a determined oil man at the turn of the 20th century who promises land holders wealth and prosperity at the prospect of his oil endeavors. Daniel Day-Lewis is convincing in the simplest of terms. The audience can watch his performance and not even realize that a character is being acted. One may sit and forget they aren't watching a dramatic documentary filmed in the early 1900's.
After promising to build up a town's wellbeing by drilling for oil, Daniel Plainview is cursed by tragedy after tragedy at his oil wells. The bipolar reverend at the local church, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) claims Daniel's misfortune is his reluctance to having his projects blessed by his church. As the film plays out, religion begins to take a prominent role, as the townspeople desire for Daniel to become active in their church in return for the ability to use their land to drill for oil.
As the story progresses, Daniel becomes dependant on alcohol to drown his sorrows; His injured son, the mishaps at the oil wells, his dealings with big oil companies. In the end when his quest was successful and Daniel is living in a large home, he is obviously using his wealth on grown man's play things and alcohol. He is a drunk, living homeless in his own home. His loneliness is unbearable, but his old "friend" the reverend will not give up on him and comes to visit him one last time.
Director of Photography Robert Elswit contributes a great deal to this project. The vast emptiness of the west is captured well in both a physical and emotional sense. Each scene and location seems to have its own personality through the lighting and composition of a shot. Johnny Greenwood's music is at first strange and unexpected, but its eccentric and abnormal qualities help to give the film a different feel, the newness of drilling for oil to the community and to the United States at the time deserves an unfamiliar score. The soundtrack assists in speeding up scenes that may otherwise seem to move slowly.