Review of There Will Be Blood (2007) by Tiberio S — 14 Mar 2017

The opening ten minutes are a comical observation of the misery oil miners put themselves through for the profit of oil. The shot of Daniel Plainview's hand covered in oil resonates with a common picture that would replace oil with blood; the title of this film has "Blood" in it to eerily forbade that there will be blood on this man's hand in the form of oil, liquid gold. The evil is blatant. Intercut this with the sincerity of a father, Daniel, one that we know is greedy, kidnapping this child for his own benefit to help grow an empire as his right-hand. Cut to years later, they are a successful capitalist family, the great Plainviews. The death of a worker had no bearing on Daniel's mission to conduct further oil business, his need to further profits extending to a town hall meeting, seeking approval, which he takes full control of.

He's shameless in his pursuit, no loyalty to anything else, nor true membership to a church. He's such an honest, smart capitalist that he fully knows the capitalism in others. When Eli reveals his desire to have more attention from his townsfolk, Daniel jokingly agrees to help, only to put Eli in his place by not actually fulfilling any obligation. The shot of Daniel walking up the steps out of focus while in the background, Eli stares disappointed in focus, is a perfect example of this. Eli is best captured in his natural setting: the church. It's shot through an atheistic lens as he manipulates the old woman to believe he's a great healer, a shameful sideshow proving his true capitalism. Daniel can confidently look upon churchgoers with absolute confidence in his power over them. He also knows Eli is just as interested in the liquid gold oil as anybody else.

Daniel takes absolute authority when he manipulates the Stephen's daughter to be his own because she gets hit by her father; he audaciously causes this scene right in front of the father.

How can one even speak of the beauty in the transition from daylight to the oil tower going up in flames with black smoke, transitioning this methodical scene into total darkness as the music carries us scene to scene? Anderson harkens to a Kubrick style of filmmaking - we sense the darkness in what humanity will endure for profit. A dark light hanging over Eli exemplifies this idea, and it speaks volumes. Or in his use of music, exemplified by a single string note playing over HW going deaf, Daniel trying to speak to him to no avail. And then Daniel's evil completes itself, perhaps too soon, when he abandons HW for being deaf and useless.

What lengths will Daniel Plainview go to? For the sake of good business ties to the town, he sincerely humiliates himself amongst the congregation, allowing Eli to baptize him. The comedy is so outlandish and absurd, yet truthful, again impressing the lengths men will go to for profit.

HW makes a surprise return two hours into the film, and like HW, we haven't forgive Daniel, yet we see him trying. We know why Daniel has brought HW back, and it's merely for his reputation. There's no love emitting from this cold man. How much madder does it get? He eventually tells HW the truth of his existence, revealing his shitty plan, degrading HW into absolute nothingness, a "bastard from a basket" who he used for his own image. This is about as purely rotten and soulless as it gets. The film delivers its expectation to take us from most cruel to most cruelest.

What I love most about this film is that I can never really say where it's going. Traveling through time to 1927, we see Daniel's upscale mansion, living amongst spoils and hoarding, sloppy, disorganized madness. It ends on an awkward yet poignant note, and it's all we need to wrap up the experience.