A Masterful Performance that answers a Question that is never asked

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2008)

I think that Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor right now. Period. Every time I see him on screen, he captures misanthropy in a way that no other Hollywood pretty boy or girl can even approach. He is a throwback to a time when even famous actors actually struggled on the way up and had some personal understanding of hate, malice, struggle, failure and redemption. Not the "I didn't get paid enough for my last film" kind of hatred, or "I didn't get in the tabloids enough last week," or "My girlfriend left me and now I have to find another one." No, the "I have to literally kick my competitor in the head in order to feed my family" kind.
A performance can make a movie. It sure does make this one. But what is the film about? An oilman at the turn of the century? Yes. Greed and betrayal and murder and hatred? Yes. A parable on what it took for hard men to succeed in hard times? Most definitely yes.
But the question that is answered has nothing to do with any of the above. Those are incidentals to the real answer that the film provides. The question to be answered only comes in the last five minutes of the film. Everything before that is an explanation of why the film ended as it did.
Now, you may not think that the question posed at the end of the film - why did the aging oilman do what he did? - is worth making a film about. I think it is worth answering, because of the insight it gives into a time and place and human nature. But the film definitely answers that question. Brilliantly. So, if you want the answer to that question, this film gives it to you. But telling you what the question is would spoil the film for you, because of the sheer randomness with which the film seems to end.
As for the journey the film takes, well, it is a look at a total misanthrope who explains quite succinctly his philosophy of life to his "brother" - namely, "I hate everybody and want to make enough money to not have to deal with anybody. It is not enough that I succeed - everyone else must fail." Now if you think that is an uncommon feeling, well, maybe you're right, but I sure think I've met people like that along the way. And this film portrays pure misanthropy in what I think is a brilliant way. A long, roundabout, circuitous, mysterious way, but still brilliant.
I recommend this film if you are in the mood for a very dark but profound experience into the human psyche. Or if you just agree with me that Daniel Day-Lewis is awesome.