Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ciaran Hinds, Dillon Freasier

Produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, Joanne Sellar, Daniel Lupi
Written for screen and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Music by Jonny Greenwood
Released December 26, 07’
“R” for some violence
158 minutes
5 out of 5 Stars

Review by Stephen Roesler

Based on Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil!”, “There Will be Blood” is a story of Daniel Plainview’s heartless thirst for oil and his constant struggle against the inescapable disturbance of the “Church of the 3^rd Revelation.”  Amid the pretentious spiritual healings and epic greed that saturate Paul Anderson’s film, the picture tells a poignant story of Southern California’s oil boom in the early 1900’s.   Marvelous acting, innovative music and a timeless theme of greed and religion make Anderson’s picture an instant classic.

The main character, Daniel Plainview, played by a monstrous Daniel Day-Lewis, carries the entire film as we watch his articulate business skills lead him to oil and riches.  There is no mistake that Day won best actor of the year, although it is his trustee partner, H.W. (played by Dillon Freasier), who is the young, charming face that finalizes his deals.

While the first 15 minutes remain free of dialogue, you won’t move a muscle as an eerie buzz and screeching violin groan as Day mines for crude oil.  It is not long before his crew sets up derricks and begins the rather filthy process of retrieving the oil from underground.

Throughout the captivating two and a half hours, the music by Jonny Greenwood, (Radiohead’s guitarist) compliments the uncanny scenes of the empty expanse of the Mojave Desert.   Although the movie is lengthy, it is entrancing and free from a single uninteresting moment.

Among the most powerful of scenes is that of Plainview’s first substantial deal in the town of “Little Boston.”  A minor accident soon turns into a catastrophic calamity as a fountain of blaring inferno sprays from the earth as 10 year-old H.W. is thrown from the derrick – ultimately loosing his hearing.  Then begins a magnified callousness in Plainview that continually grows into an explosion at the culmination of the film.

Although the film is a bit of a one-man show, “There Will be Blood” involves an array of peculiar relationships, all centering around Plainview’s heartless aura and dislike for human beings. “I have a competition in me,” he says.  “I want no one else to succeed.  I hate most people.”

As director Anderson will admit, he pulls heavily from Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman films when using freeze techniques and an unmistakably dim lighting.  Yet, “There Will Be Blood” is original, only subtly alluding to his very faint influences.

Many of his most memorable shots are wordless, with only an immense view of the very root of Plainview’s greed, the very ground he walks.

While the film maintains much of Anderson’s style in terms of its thought-provoking look into the human psyche, it is unlike his other films in its traditional aspect.  The picture is linear with unusually relatable characters – different from past Anderson creations.

The film exemplifies extremes by making a mockery of charismatic, evangelical Christianity on one side while conversely depicting a vituperative malevolence of the greed for money.  We see the worst in things.  A horrid portal of capitalism amid a dysfunctional father-son relationship, Anderson forces the audience to consider his depressing account of America’s foundation.

Although you may leave feeling a bit uncomfortable or perturbed, the film is an undeniable masterpiece.  Culturally relevant, historically rooted, superb acting and artistically created; to ignore this film would be a crude mistake.