Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, ‘There Will Be Blood (2007)’ is a brilliant film that explores how a man’s soul can be destroyed by greed, arrogance and corruption. The film is unquestionably one of the greatest films and will live on through future generations due to its acting, cinematography, direction, cast and musical score.
There Will Be Blood, which is loosely based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!” depicts the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a young oilman who uses charm to con landowners. Plainview starts as an ordinary silver miner who hopes to become rich. This changed in 1902 when he decides to establish his own drilling company after finding oil near Los Angeles, California. In the beginning, we picture him as a normal person with selfless deeds and he even adopts the son of a deceased co-worker. The child is a boy named H. W. (Dillon Freasier) and Daniel appears to love and cherish him. However, as the story progresses, his real intentions are unravelled one by one.
Plainview’s ambition and greed take him to a small California town where he pretends to be buying land for him and his son to go quail hunting. He purposefully misleads the land’s owner, Abel Sunday, into believing that the land is worth much less than it actually is by not disclosing that he is aware that there is a large amount of oil under the land.
However, he encounters Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young minister who is equally manipulative and cunning, in the small Californian town of Little Boston. Eli tries to use Plainview’s presence in Little Boston to promote his church and interests after he demands that Daniel provide his congregation with a hefty sum of money. In return, Daniel receives complete access to the land beneath the town, allowing him to construct wells and drill for oil. As Daniel refuses, Eli takes things personally and what happens next makes the plot more interesting.
The audience can see that both men are only interested in themselves, but they depend on one another to become rich or gain followers of a religion.
The film examines in detail how Daniel Plainview, the main character, loses his soul in the quest for fame and fortune. There Will Be Blood also explores how religion and capitalism frequently work together to achieve their objectives.
The characters are interesting, the plot is well-written, and the themes used are still relevant in today’s world. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, winning two for “Best Cinematography” and “Best Actor” for Daniel Day-Lewis.
