There Will Be Blood

Title: There Will Be Blood
Rating: 5/5
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano

“I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”

People who have been following the films I review will likely have noticed three things; I have a keen interest in ‘intelligent’ cinema; the independently produced, low-budget but thought provoking, perhaps confusing, but always built around a strength of script and story over actors (often outside of the much loathed Hollywood). I also have a keen interest in foreign – most notable Asian – cinema, and finally (but not least important) I cannot stand period drama’s, finding the accents frustrating, the plots tedious and the characters impossible to relate to in any way. The decision to watch this film was an unusual one, and I can’t entirely recall what made my decision, being not just a period drama but a Hollywood period drama at that, but it certainly was not one I regret. Where normally I find tedious mediocrity, this had me enthralled for its entire 160min length.

Revolving around Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), an oil prospector in the early 20th Century who works with his son, HW Plainview; it is though his eyes that we become captivated by a man who manages to put on a formidable front as a honourable businessman, and it is this side that is met by Paul Sunday (Dano), who speaks of a ranch struggling to get by, but with a large quantity of oil beneath its land. With the promise of donating money to the local church, his brother Eli (also Dano) tolerates his presence ever more reluctantly as the true nature of Mr. Plainview becomes ever more apparent.

Unquestionably it is Day-Lewis who holds much of the interest; this is no simple man, he is complex and multi-layered and slowly the opinion of him shifts over the course of the film, when the apparent altruistic intentions fade and we realise the truth behind his ambitions, he may well be viewed as the personification of evil, but through the film we come to understand the character. His desire for wealth and power is not so he can control people, but rather so he can escape from them, his inherent hatred for other people slowly getting worse as he tires of the company of people he sees little worth in. It is this fascination with the realistic character presented, and the many ways in which he reacts that provides a continual source of intrigue. Not to dampen the efforts of Dano as Eli, the young fanatical Christian who too seems to have a deceptive and manipulative self-righteousness about him, this was an actor who has had little work but it is here he proves capable of rising to the challenge set before him.

But beyond the plot itself, there is some beautiful cinematography of the local desert, the mountainous ranges and gritty realism of the workers in these difficult conditions resonating throughout the many short scenes maintaining a sense of belief throughout the film. The soundtrack too was well worked, frequently heard but utilised in a manner that didn’t detract from the footage being shown. Even the use of lighting was carefully constructed to reflect the mood of the section with a decent degree of success, there is a certain attention to detail that has been played here, from the use of oil, the more subtle scenes and the many ‘unexplained’ actions, where no words are spoken and we are left to form our own conclusions about the character.

This is the sort of film I thought I would never see given the budget to do it justice. This doesn’t stick to the comfortable area of drama, this pushes beyond that and – whilst I’ve seen films attempt to go a lot further beyond this barrier of acceptability within modern film making – succeeds in making it seem realistic. Nothing is spoon-fed to you, and there is no ‘answer’ or ‘correct conclusion;’ if you go into this expecting everything to wrap up neat and tidily then think again. This is the story of a man’s life, a capitalist businessman with a suave attitude above a hauntingly evil character. Not simply a cliché sociopath with a penchant for reckless violence, but capable of presenting his humanity, capable of forming relationships; this is almost biographical in how it presents the character, and the result is mesmerising.