THERE WILL BE BLOOD

US, 2008, 158 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Dano, Dylan Freasier, Kevin J. O’ Connor, Ciaran Hinds.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

An epic piece of Americana that has impressed critics, audiences and award givers – especially for Daniel Day Lewis’ intense performance.

Based on the novel, Oil, by Upton Sinclair, this is a story of oil exploration and entrepreneuring skill at the beginning of the 20th century. It is not a sweeping saga with romantic overtones like Giant. Rather, this is a picture of grim and constant hard work, of men completely committed to success with oil, who are rugged and competitive and who pay the price emotionally for their obsessive quest.

Daniel Day Lewis does not make many films but has that chameleon-like quality for letting his own personality disappear into a full-on characterisation. He was Christy Brown, the poet with cerebral palsy in his Oscar-winning performance in My Left Foot. He was the rugged pioneer in Last of the Mohicans and the New York aristocrat in Age of Innocence. He was also the ruthless gangster in Gangs of New York. Here, he is Daniel Plainview, a loner who prospects for minerals, then for oil. He adopts the baby of a man who dies in an accident and brings up the boy. When the boy loses his hearing during a shaft explosion, he cannot face it and he lets this relationship go.

More powerful is his conflict with the shrewd son of a rancher who sets up his Church of the Third Revelation, determined to control Plainview, bring in donations and build his own church empire. Paul Dano has the surface innocence and goodness but also the steely determination and competitiveness that mark Daniel which lead him beyond his capacities. Another interesting character is Daniel’s half-brother, Henry, with whom he might have made a relationship after breaking one of his rules and speaking about his past life and his feelings.

This is an American male world, a world of achievement founded on the American dream and establishing American capitalism.

The location photography suggests a past long gone. The musical score has a wide variety of styles that drives the action or lets us rest and pause before the next intensity. (And Daniel Day Lewis’ performance becomes more and more intense leading up to a theatrical violent climax.)

Paul Thomas Anderson received a lot of notice for his Boogie Nights and then his extraordinary covering of many stories in Magnolia. He has adapted Sinclair’s novel and directed a film that offers significant images of American history and its manifest destiny culture.

1.The impact and acclaim? As drama, character drawing, a piece of Americana?

2.The awards, Daniel Day Lewis’s performance? Paul Thomas Anderson’s direction?

3.The adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel, his issues, focusing on capitalism, not so much focusing on social issues? 19th century America, the opening up of the west after the settlement? The American dream, the capitalist dream? Hard work, mining and wealth, mining and dangers? The discovery of oil, exploration, entrepreneurs, exploitation? The wealth of the oil discoverers? The background theme of religion, the nature of God, hypocrites and double standards? The relevance to the contemporary scene?

4.The locations, the California desert, barren, the ranches, the mines, the oil derricks, the towns? The orchestrated score – and its variety of tones, moods, styles?

5.The introduction: wordless, the introduction to Daniel Plainview, his work in the mine, hard work, the digging, the discoveries, his falls, the accidents, the oil, the teams, the derricks?

6.The visual style, the use of close-ups, the use of long shots, the pace of the images, for contemplation? For drama and interaction?

7.The tribute to the work of the pioneers, hard and difficult work, the shafts, makeshift mines, the regular collapses, the discovery of oil, the collaboration of the group, the man and his baby, the accident, his death, Daniel adopting the baby?

8.Daniel Plainview and his character, the later explanations of his life, alone, his parents, anger, leaving home? His father and mother? Competitive? The move from Kansas, the mines, a shrewd intelligence? Fletcher and his help? The deals? Buying up the land, using H.W. as a motivation for persuasion for people to sell, compassion for the child?

9.H.W., as a baby, with his father, Daniel rescuing him, loving him, their travelling together, his listening to all the talk about the deals, his accumulated knowledge about mines and deals? The life together? The accident, his deafness? Daniel and his rescue? The care for him? His drinking the milk, going to San Francisco, on the train, Daniel not staying? Abandoning him? The boy’s return, the restaurant? The humiliation? The play, the young girl – and the transition to 1927 and his being grown up?

10.Paul Sunday and his visit, his plain talk, shrewd, suggesting the deals, Daniel and his discussing and arguing? The gains? The visit to the family, Daniel and H.W. quail-hunting, the tent, the milk from the family, the shooting with the birds, talk? The meeting with Eli, his hard-headedness, the deals? His father and his being willing to give in? Eli’s hard stance? The rest of the family?

11.Eli and his family, the focus on religion, his demands, his plain religion, wanting the money, the building of the church? The actual church, seeing him in action, Daniel watching him? The healings – and the later prayer over H.W? His expanding his church? The tensions with Daniel? The buying up of the land, the deals? The confession, his dominating Daniel’s spirit, the baptism, welcoming him? Yet the deal for the pipeline? Daniel’s gain? The rivalry, the anger?

12.Henry and his arrival, his story, Daniel opening up to him, a brother? His knowledge of the family, his character, the deals, partnership, the time on the beach together, his making a mistake, Daniel’s anger, testing him, his death, burying him? Eli knowing what happened? Daniel being trapped and the consequences of his anger?

13.1927, Daniel’s success, the lavish house, drinking, the bowling alley? H.W. and his arrival, the clash with his father? The confrontation, his decision to leave? The rival company? Daniel unable to accept this, telling him the truth, that he didn’t love him? H.W. saying he was glad? That he would be a competitor?

14.Eli, his return, the twenty years of success, the radio ministry, asking for money, his depression, Daniel’s deal, pressurising him to make his confession, the comparison with what he did to Daniel? The fight, Daniel bashing him? The end? What did it profit for Daniel to gain the whole world?

15.Daniel Day Lewis’s performance, intense, the last section, the 1927 atmosphere, the theatrical intensity building up to the murder? The significance of the title?