There Will Be Discussion

I just got back from a sold-out screening of P.T. Anderson’s long awaited opus, There Will Be Blood. The first impressions I had when the credits started to roll, was that it was going to take me a long time to get my thoughts together on this film.

After discussing it for some hours afterwards, it clicked in my that this is what makes the film so good. On the surface it is the story of the life of Daniel Plainview, a self-made oil mogul and his struggles to grow his already prosperous business into something much grander. Along the way he raises his young son, and clashes with a young fiery preacher named Eli Sunday.

Look beyond that and the whole film raises questions. Some are answered, some are hinted at, but all shed light on the larger-than-life characters and ultimately much more. Like most people trying to write about this film, I find it hard to punch out a normal review. I have questions that aren’t completely answered, symbolism that hasn’t been worked out, and other thoughts that are on the tip of my brain. It’s like a giant puzzle begging to be put together. The “joy” in this film is that it stays with you.

So without any real structure, I will list some of my thoughts about what happens in the film:

Note: Spoilers follow!

The conflict between Eli and Daniel is of “biblical” proportions, and it points to the larger battle between religion (faith) and ambition (money). At several points in the movie Daniel attacks Eli in different ways. He doesn’t let him bless the first derrick, he attacks him for not being able to heal his son, and debases him at the end.

There is also the question of Paul and Eli. Twins, different only in the fact that one took the money and ran and one wanted to get the money and stay with his church. The question is are they really different people? Paul, contrary to what you might think the opposite of Eli would be, was a religious person. He questions Daniels faith, and even blesses him at the first meeting. After that scene, he leaves the film. Later on, when Eli attacks his own father after being humiliated by Daniel, he mentions that Paul brought him here. Eli rightly should not have known Paul did such a thing.

If there was some sort of schizophrenia going on, then that would mirror the two sides of Daniel Plainview. Eli was a religious savior. Paul was a money-hungry schemer. Daniel was definetely a money-hungry schemer, but at times he was also a loving father. When his son becomes a liability more than a help, he sends him off. Then, we see him as the loving father when he has a change of heart.

With his mounting fortune, that side of him disappears until at the end he is a sad miserable man with only one thing on his mind: keeping his fortune and getting rid of the competition. Until Eli again appears in his life. A foe he did not completely vanquish, and one who made him go through something demoralizing, the baptism, in exchange for the land Daniel needed.

This time though, Eli needs money and wants to sell Daniel the last tract of land in the area. Daniel returns the baptism humiliation by making Eli call himself a false prophet in order to let him sell the land. Then Daniel pulls the rug out from under him by saying he doesn’t need the land. With the explanation containing one of my favorite lines of dialog: “I drink your milkshake!”

Eli breaks down, saying that he has committed sins, and that the lord has not made things easy for him. The devil has taken hold of him in ways he never knew were possible. Is that Paul he is speaking of? I don’t know, but I think it might be. Daniel berates him about this, telling him that he is worthless and that Paul was the important one. He clearly lies, trying to get Eli to feel bad. Trying to completely break him down. He says how he paid Paul lots of money for leading him to the oil. This hurt because he had promised Eli money for the church, and never provided. Paul, the one who sold out his family is heralded by Daniel as a hero, the savior, while Eli, the self-named healer, is called only “after-birth.”

Then the climax, and then those simple words: “I’m finished.” And finally, so am I.

Note: End Spoilers!

All these rambling thoughts have made me wired. This film will live in my brain for a few more days I’m sure. The acting, directing, writing, and score create palpable tension and bring to life the turn of the century United States. Even more impressive, Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Upton Sinclair, and P.T. Anderson have created two characters that live and breath. Their dynamic clash in this film, to quote Jack Burton, “really shook the pillars of heaven.”

Now, I must close this so-called review with a final summation: In There Will Be Blood, P.T. Anderson has made a film that deserves to be as highly touted as it is, a film that demands repeated viewings, and a film that many people will be talking about for a long time.