A Burning Descent Into Madness

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2008)

The film is simply perfect in every way, every scene, every note and every facet of all the actors performances are spot on. Day-Lewis presents a character in Daniel Plainview of unrelenting maliciousness, not quite as sadistic as Bardem's Anton Chirurgh but every bit a villain through and through. What makes Daniel Plainview more horrifying than any other villain I've come across is just how much of myself I saw in his character. This film made me want to be a better person not through guilting me into loving my fellow man, but by simply showing the life of a man who never changed and alienated all who loved him. Here is a man that never evolves and experiences no epiphany, he stays the same miserable bastard that he's always been and its just so refreshing to see that in a character. Too much these days we as film goers are forced to sit through contrived character changes or realizations that come out of nowhere and only serve to insult the audience. People don't change and here is a film thats not afraid to express that in the most brutal way possible.
Plainview hates people and wants success in business only so he can make enough money to escape them. Making money it turns out, is very easy for him, he has a way of speaking and carrying himself that is hypnotic and convincing even when you know you're being lied too. He's an oil man but he just as easily could've made his fortune in silver or gold or the blood of children, his ruthlessness would not have stopped him. And what is oil if not the blood of the earth.
He finds his fortune somewhere in Texas where he runs afoul of a small-town church whose preacher represents all Plainview hates about the humanity he wishes to escape from. The young Paul Dano gives the best supporting performance of the year as Eli Sunday, the preacher and faith healer of the church and the symbol of Plainview hatred for years. Throughout the film the two characters run afoul several times with Plainview only building up his hatred over time, for Eli, and for everyone around him.
There has been much uproar over the film's ending, many call it 'over-the-top' or unreal. Yes, the ending is insane, maddening and gruesome, and it is perfect. No other ending could possibly due given this character and his personality and all the decisions he has made in his life up to that crucial point in time (and given the title). The conclusion to the film is unsettling but its exactly what has been building and building the entirety of Daniel's life and its the only ending that could have done this story justice.
The film works like a slow burning fire beneath the surface. The tension and the intensity just builds up until the climax where all is settled and there is no turning back. Our hero has become the man he was destined to be and there is no one left to help him. Plainview passes that threshold after which its too late to go back and right the wrongs you have committed to yourself and to those who loved you. His slow descent into madness is hard to watch, but whoever said a great film had to be fun to watch. Great art is not always pretty and great characters are not always likable. Those are not proper critiques of this film. There Will Be Blood creates an image of a man who is not perfect, but the image is perfectly created.