Okay, I’m not totally late to the party on There Will Be Blood, as I finally saw it last year, but that puts it 12 years after its release. You know what film I saw when it was released that year and was filmed within the same area as There Will Be Blood? No Country For Old Men. And what was my initial opinion of it? “That fucking ending, what the fuck?”
Which film did I have more interest in? No Country…
Which film took me more time to appreciate? No Country…
Which film when I finally saw it I loved immediately? …Blood.
Strange how things work out the way they do.
Last summer, There Will Be Blood was on constant rotation on Showtime, and at that time I was severely unemployed and critically depressed – two sucky tastes that taste like suck together. This meant that I could unconditionally watch television without feeling like I was wasting my time or life. Even if I didn’t particularly like my current predicament, the situation was made at least somewhat comfortable with the aid of entertaining programming choices. The other film I saw a lot of that summer was Roadhouse, but that’s a film to probably discuss another time under a different series.
I think I had always wanted to see There Will Be… but I had never given myself the time or opportunity to watch it. It falls into that category of films of “A lot of people have seen this, liked it, and recommend it, but fuck if I will ever get to this when I could watch Fargo for the fiftieth time.” Now I think There Will Be… can easily be slotted into the “I could watch this from any point of the film and still enjoy until the end” category of films, which also includes aforementioned Roadhouse, Fargo, and any other films I count among my personal favorites. Does this mean There Will Be…is one of my personal favorites? Probably. I don’t have criteria for personal favorites, really. They just are, like the setting sun, the rising moon, or the howls of the proletariat crying for justice. If I were to have any criteria for a film to qualify as a personal favorite, it would have to be if my enjoyment of said film never wanes upon repeated viewings, I suppose I would have to include The Exorcist III, and that is definitely a film I will need to talk about at length at some point. So, yeah, having watched There Will Be… at least over a dozen times, probably into over twenty times (I don’t think I’ve ever counted and if I did, I’m sure I’d lost track after fifteen), I can safely state as fact I’ve never lost an ounce of enjoyment for it.
Writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson depicts the story as an epic – the journey of one man from prospector to oil barron, with several stories along the way that show his transition. In that way, it has a bit in common with Clash of The Titans and the Indiana Jones films. The film is made up of mini-stories that weave into each other, fabricating the larger story. It’s a quilt of a film, really.
When the film was released in 2007, this was right around when the asshole anti-hero protagonist trope was still fresh. Daniel Plainview, as played masterfully by method-actor supreme Daniel Day-Lewis, is most definitely an asshole. You do sympathize with him and you can see his humanity, but he’s fighting against it. As he gains more power, he sheds more of his humanity – sort of the opposite of the hero’s journey in that instead of overcoming obstacles as lessons on the importance of using their powers for good, Plainview learns how to better exploit others and becomes more ruthless. The subplot regarding his supposed half-brother Henry, played by veteran character actor Kevin J. O’Connor (the Daniel Day-Lewis of weaselly fucks), is a turning point in just how Plainview is willing to sacrifice others, even “family” so as to not sacrifice his fortunes.
Plainview is often challenged by the humanity of others, but he does not bend or sway easily. The most fraught challenge to him is by the pastor of the dirt-poor dirt farm town he has been pumping. This character, Eli Sunday (played with snake-like charm by Paul Dano, rivaling Day-Lewis’ performance of two-faced characters), shows no fear towards Plainview as he does not see anything in him to fear. He confronts him routinely about donating to his church, about Plainview’s constant dismissal of the church and likely religion altogether. For all of Plainview’s strengths, when he’s asked plainly about his faith, he falters and gives a politician’s response of being a man of many faiths. He lacks confidence here because to admit to being a non-believer means the lack of humanity he cannot afford to show. He requires just enough to win over the town and accept him and his industrial efforts, but should he admit to being something less-than Christian, well, goodbye pipeline.
There’s another pivotal moment in the film, in which Plainview is startled awake by a man named Bandy (or a dog named Mandy), whom Daniel has been seeking but never connecting with. Plainview wishes to buy his land, but Bandy is not willing to give so easily. He makes a bargain to Plainview to come be baptized at the very same church which Sunday presides over. The thought of joining the congregation forces Plainview to counter-bargain, offering Bandy more money in a subtly comic delivery that makes me chuckle every time I see it. What unfolds from here is Plainview seeing himself in a position he never thought he’d see himself in: up for judgment. He understands what is at stake and if he cannot see this through, then everything he has built will have been for nothing. So he allows himself to be castigated in what is a brazen scene, being slapped repeatedly with righteousness (literally as well as figuratively) by Sunday before the perishoners as he is ordered to confess his sins, breaking him as he screams to the Heavens is sins and wants the blood (blood itself being a soft metaphor in this film, representing literal blood spilled in effort to mine the metaphorical blood of oil).
The film is indeed a masterpiece. I can say that safely without hyperbole. It doesn’t feel dull at any point, not a scene wasted nor a scene needlessly shown. It’s an ideal watch for anytime of the day. The last thing I will say about it is that something I picked up on repeat viewings is that Day-Lewis is constantly chewing. I’m not sure if it is pantomime or he’s got some peanuts in his mouth, but he’s often just chewing. I could assume that this is a trick in effort for him to maintain his American accent, or it could be an eccentricity he’s affected for the character. It could also be a sly wink to the audience that yes, he is chewing every scene of this film but because he does so with such grace, we’ll allow it.
Loose Thoughts
- The relationship between Daniel and his adopted son HW represents his tenuous hold on humanity. HW serves less as his moral compass, more his means for compassion. When he sends him away for a spell, his compulsion for wealth rises as does his temper. In that time, he brings Henry closer into his business, despite HW having been suspicious of him from their introduction. With HW gone, those doubts are cast aside until the truth becomes apparent.
- On that same note, when Daniel’s suspicions are aroused about Henry, it’s done so with restraint. If these two men are brothers, how does Henry not react the way he should to an inside joke Daniel shares? Daniel’s look of confusion gives way to betrayal to contempt to disdain to hate and then to an act with finality. It’s a subtle moment, played with nuance but tells so much with so little dialogue, you can see the moment when Daniel’s heart and trust are broken.
- Paul Dano’s Eli Sunday was an incredible foil for Plainview. Both men are snakes, and neither man is redemptive. There’s an earlier scene where Sunday comes to admonish Plainview regarding the rig explosion that lead to his son’s hearing loss only for Plainview to smack him down and slap at him, dragging him through the muck and rubbing it in his face. It’s childish in how he bullies him, but feeds into Sunday’s resentment towards Plainview. The baptism scene is Sunday’s act of revenge and he does it with such glee that you have to imagine some of those slaps were real in effort to get the proper response from Day-Lewis.