There Will Be Blood

Out of all the Oscar nominated films I hadn’t seen by Oscar night, I wanted to see There Will Be Blood the most. I remembered scenes from the movie for days just because I had seen the movie trailer. Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance was also a point of curiosity for me. On every channel that did a story on the movie, or during any awards show, you could see a clip of Day-Lewis’ yelling “I’ve abandoned my child. I’ve abandoned my child.” I needed to know the story behind that intense scene so I took my only friend in Milwaukee to see the movie. Thanks, Kate.

From the first moments of the film when Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) is dangerously working by himself digging for oil, to the last words of There Will Be Blood—I’m finished—the film is a sinister and foreboding look into the greed of men, specifically one man, Plainview. For him, there is only money and what he has to do to acquire that money—anything. There are no friends, no boundaries, and, ultimately, no loyalties. The filmmakers establish this ominous mood right away with an eerily screeching soundtrack. Making those in the audience wait over twenty minutes for the first word of dialogue drills the point home that Plainview, and his brethren, don’t waste words.

The first half-hour of the movie tested Kate’s patience. She was ready to leave me in the theater and slip into the new McConaughey/Hudson joint, Fool’s Gold, but I told her to be patient and “hold out a little longer. I think you’ll like this one.” She had to hold out for 2 hours and 38 minutes, but she did warm to the movie and left the theater comparing its goodness to that of No Country For Old Men.

It is a funny thing about the scene where Daniel Plainview yells “I’ve abandoned my child.” All the previews and clips of that scene made it look like the most serious and dramatic moment. Actually, that scene was full of irony and humor. It drew more than a few laughs from the audience. In this scene, Plainview is being baptized by a young, charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (played by Paul Dano). Sunday makes him confess his sins in front of the congregation. Hesitant at first, Plainview really gets into the baptism and starts yelling, breathing hard, and shaking his head. For Plainview, the baptism is a rite of passage he must endure in order to be allowed to build an oil pipeline across a church member’s land. Plainview is, for once, subjecting himself to something he doesn’t like and doesn’t believe in, in order to make millions of dollars from his pipeline to the coast of California. Day-Lewis does an amazing job of being enthusiastic about the baptism. His fervor patronizes the audience, but they embrace him as a brother and a new member of the church after Plainview rises because they believe Plainview’s confession is genuine.

There Will Be Blood does not lift one’s spirits. Much like No Country, this film ends on a down note and resignation. If Plainview’s destructive path through life doesn’t make you mourn for him or everyone in his way, then you have only to think about the oil industry today. I think this is where There Will Be Blood is most applicable to the times. Although I don’t think there are such crazy people as Plainview in the modern oil industry (there could be, you never know), the oil and the promise of wealth are still there and it is troubling to know that oil executives are consumed by, much to the same degree, the greed that consumes Plainview. Like Plainview, I don’t suspect any oil company to relinquish their drive for wealth until every last drop of oil is drilled. In doing so, the companies will push their interests in all other forms of politics and economic development in order to suffocate renewable energy research, alternative sources of energy, and environmental concern. They will do this because they only care about maximizing profits and building up walls of security and lavish wealth. Sort of on the flip side of all this, I couldn't help thinking about how I am making these people richer and richer when I get into my car to use $105-a-barrel oil.

Plainview got his profits, built his mansion, and showed off his wealth, but is a drunk and lonely man when the movie ends. To the bitter end he stamps out everyone in his life that seeks to change him, leaving the last victim bloodied on a bowling alley. Because real life often isn’t a storybook ending, this movie is worth seeing because it is no fairy tale.