Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

I just saw the movie There Will Be Blood. Many commentators have pointed out the obvious parallels in the movie's depiction of the unholy relationship between religion and oil and to that same relationship today. It is a movie that should not be contemplated hurriedly once the lights come on at its ending, but should be savored for a time afterwards, so that it can be fully turned over in one's head and appreciated more richly. There are many powerful scenes that will linger for a long time. One in particular is early on, as Daniel Day-Lewis' character, Daniel Plainview, sits silently with his infant son on a train, leaning his head in for the child to play with his face. Not a word is spoken, but the early impression we have of this hard scrabble man having a soft spot on the inside is gone at movie's end, nearly 30 years later. Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal of a man who nearly literally digs his way to madness is remarkable. Nearly all the reviews are universal in their praise of his performance, and I do not differ. With a voice borrowed from John Huston, we see a portrayal of the toxic effects of obsession and greed on a man's soul, symbolized otherwise by the oil rigs and toxic oil pits which more and more scar and disfigure the landscape. Eventually people are just an obstacle, in the way of his ambition, as he relates in a memorable conversation with his half-brother; and when he says "these people", referring to humanity in a sneering, detached way, you can feel a chill go up your spine. His antagonist is played well by Paul Dano, a young actor with a promising future (many of you will remember him from Little Miss Sunshine). He plays twin brothers Ron and Eli Sunday. Eli is the local preacher who locks horns with Plainview. We eventually however come to see the two as being 2 sides of the same coin. Both promise wonders for the town of Little Boston, but both are really snake oil salesmen, interested only in promoting themselves at the town's expense.

Yet it is not a perfect movie. For all its power, incredible acting and cinematography, and a gripping score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, the film somehow feels to be less than the sum of its parts. The film seems to end suddenly and maybe unsure of itself, ending perhaps because it didn't know where else to go. We are then left wondering about the meaning of all we have just seen, with powerful images to fill our head that do not necessarily form a complete whole. We marvel at what we have seen but are not sure of what to make of it.

Despite that, the movie has enough to warrant viewing from an aesthetic viewpoint alone. And the issues that surround our addiction to oil to this day give the movie an added resonance. On a scale of 5 stars, I give it 3 1/2.