There. Will Be Blood

 One of my debits as a film fan is my big blind spot for Paul Thomas Anderson’s work.  I admire how like Christopher Nolan, Anderson clearly has a lot of interests and his films cover different subjects.  I am reluctant to use the term “genre” to describe any of Anderson’s work because his films always tell stories about characters who are in a specific setting but they can take on any tone.  The trailers for Anderson’s films are often misleading and not too involving so I do not often rush to see one unless I hear enough about it that it grabs me.  

The Anderson films I have seen are Magnolia (which I liked a lot), The Master (a worthy look at a Scientology like religion but I found it very difficult to understand a lot of the Joaquin Phoenix character’s actions), Phantom Thread (which had a intriguing character dynamic between a dressmaker and a young woman in England in the 1950s) and There Will Be Blood.

I went to see this film on the big screen by myself while on a business trip when it was first in cinemas in early 2008 mostly due to the presence of Daniel Day Lewis.  Day Lewis has always been a magnetic performer who possesses both a star presence coupled with a lived in depth in all of his characters.  A common thread that impacts many of Day Lewis’ characters such as Bill the Butcher, Daniel Plainview and Abraham Lincoln is their singleminded drive to accomplish their goal.  I will admit to feeling some of Bill the Butcher flashbacks when Daniel first threatens Paul as I knew that although this was a different character there was little doubt that Daniel Plainview could make good on his words.  Similar to Bill the Butcher Plainview has a thick bushy mustache though Bill is both far more sadistic and vulnerable than Plainview.

Elswitt and Anderson have a lot of extended shots (H.W.’s return, the scene where H.W. runs away after starting the fire, the scene on the train) which are smoothly staged and immersive for the audience.  

Spoilers below:

There Will Be Blood is loosely based on a section of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!  Sinclair was a journalist who wrote books (such as The Jungle) about challenges and unfair conditions people faced in the early 20th century in a realistic fashion.  There Will Be Blood takes the setting but tells a different story.  Daniel Plainview is an oil prospector in California whose determination and business instincts eventually lead him to great wealth.  However as Plainview becomes more successful he also becomes more paranoid and distrusting of others.  By the last segment of the film Plainview’s soul is as black as the oil itself (visually represented when his face is covered with it during a rig accident about halfway through the film) and it costs him the love of the one person (maybe two) he cares about.  At the end of the film he is alone in a big mansion, similar to Charles Foster Kane near the end of Citizen Kane.  Greed and ambition can make you money but companionship is what brings happiness. 

Anderson takes some interesting chances with the opening of the film.  For about fifteen minutes we hear almost no dialogue.  In the first sequence this largely makes sense since Plainview is alone on prospecting for silver and gold in New Mexico in 1898 to fund his oil dreams.  He looks focused and determined.  The accident is random as the ladder breaks and Plainview falls into the hole but we see that he gradually and painfully pulls himself back up.  After Plainview exits Anderson cuts to Plainview at an assay office to  claim the silver.  Since we see no horse presumably he just crawled the whole way (since he would have not been able to put weight on his leg) for what might have been several miles.  

What is the purpose of the fall?  Plainview is never shown with a limp later in the film so it does not figure into the plot but I believe it relates to the title of the film.  Plainview has suffered physically for his dreams and when he angrily rejects the oil man’s offer it is in part because the man is just putting down the company’s money rather than giving of himself.  

The second sequence in California in 1902 is also mostly dialogue free even though there are several men working for Plainview at an oil well.  The lack of dialogue and the presence of a buzzing like score causes us to focus on the actions of the men and on the desert environment (which is especially apparent when watching the film on the big screen).  As before the prospecting is a success but it comes at a cost.  A man, who is clearly the father of a little baby he treats affectionately (and is probably widowed since most men would not bring a baby into that setting if they had a choice-also Plainview later explains that H.W.’s mother died in childbirth which may be the actual truth)he is an orphan).  Plainview is a ruthless prospector who now is taking care of someone else’s child.  

When the story moves forward to 1911 Anderson introduces Plainview again in front of a crowd but in a tight shot as he proposes selling his prospecting services to a community.  Plainview speaks very crisply in a mid Atlantic accent similar to that of late director John Huston.  There is no warmth in his voice and he speaks matter of factly and seems much more intelligent and cultured than the man we saw in the first two sequences.  Perhaps Plainview has learned to present himself this way in the years since he first discovered oil.  He is clearly using H.W. as a prop to get people to lower their guards, though the boy may have a better life with Plainview that he might have in an orphanage.  Dillon Freasier, who was about 10 at the time of shooting, holds the screen well alongside Day Lewis and seems very natural. 

 Interestingly while Plainview lays out a strong case as soon as people start asking challenging questions Plainview gets up and walks out. I presume this is because Plainview realizes he will not be able to con these people or trick them into accepting a much smaller share of their worth like he later does with the Sunday family.  

Day Lewis is famously extremely committed to delivering authentic performances.  When Plainview first walks out of the tent we see his poor posture.  Plainview, while still a tall and strong middle aged man, walks partially pent over like he has a curved spine, probably from many years of bending over into holes.  Plainview is often shown with matted hair and a sweaty, unshaven face, especially in the final scenes, all of which give him a slightly unhinged look.   

When Paul appears it is clear he is prepared to deal with Plainview and it is fun to watch Paul and Plainview push and pull with each other as Paul gets Plainview to pay in advance knowing that Plainview would probably shortchange him later.  I will admit when Eli turned up as he is also played by Paul Dano I was confused since I thought it was Paul and could not understand why he was suspicious of Plainview.  Dano was cast as Eli at the last minute after he had already filmed his scenes as Paul. Eli is just as greedy as Plainview in his own way and as such can recognize a fellow rat. 

One item I feel is unexplained is Plainview purchases the land from the Sunday family but they continue to live there.  We never see Plainview take over the residence so is the Sunday family renting from him now?  Also, why does Paul never show up again?  Plainview later states that he has helped Paul become successful to mock Eli but is he telling the truth?

Eli gives Plainview an antagonist and while he is not a physical threat to Plainview Eli’s understanding of Plainview’s true nature unnerves Plainview.  The battle ax is thrown when Plainview disregard’s Eli’s request to lead a prayer which Eli hopes to exploit in order to get the funds to build his church.  When Plainview is forced to undergo the public humiliation of a baptism and Eli forces him to confess to abandoning H.W. it is powerful since we know Plainview is just going through the motions to get the oil rights to the Bandy property, he cannot hide from his sins which Eli is exploiting.  At the end of the scene two interesting things occur.  First, in the background after Plainview gets up he says something quietly to Eli while shaking his hand that based on their mutual loathing and Eli’s reaction is a threat of some kind.  Secondly, Plainview is hugged by Mary Sunday, played sweetly by Colleen Foy.  

Plainview is focused on his work at the expense of any family life.  Notably during the oil rig accident which deafens H.W. Plainview is prioritizes reacting to the oil than in helping his son and he cannot help but be happy about the discovery even though it has come at such a high cost.  Later on he sends H.W. to a boarding school but instead of telling him about it, Anderson has an extended shot of Plainview cowardly leaving the trusting boy on a train and letting one of his men deliver the news. 

However Plainview’s claim that he is a family man does have some truth to it.  Plainview plays a little with his son, welcomes H.W. back warmly and even does not react when the boy slaps him (as he clearly would to someone else).  In a few of the moments when Plainview engages in violence it is misdirected frustration for his boy’s troubles (such as when he beats Eli publicly or threatens the oil man).  Additionally when Plainview learns that Mary is being beaten by her father he passively threatens the father and she is one of the only people he is affectionate with.  When Plainview beats Eli to death at the end of the film he is probably letting out his rage at his son’s rejection of him which only occurred the day before.

There is a cycle of violence in the Sunday family too.  After Eli is beaten publicly and his face is shoved in the mud he is next shown at his family’s dinner table with the dry caked mud on his face and then he takes out his frustration by assaulting his elderly father.  We feel horrible for the father until we learn that the father similarly beats his daughter.  Notably the women at the table run away instead of trying to help the father, played by David Willis, an actor with whom I was not familiar.

The scene where the rig catches fire is powerful and makes good use of the late afternoon timing (the flames mesh well with the sky.  Cinematographer Robert Elswitt, who also filmed Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, contrasts wide shots of the beautiful horror (another worker is killed and H.W. looses his hearing) with tight shots of Plainview’s face.

Anderson includes a subplot with Plainview’s “brother” Henry, played by Kevin. Day O’Connor which allows for a change of tone.  Although the man’s presence is suspicious at best he is pretty harmless in that he only wants a job.  In this end his scenes give Plainview someone to talk to and bond with for a time but also allows for his more savage nature when the man does not recognize a local joke from where he claims to come which exposes him, leading Plainview to murder him.

Bandy’s scene is also interesting.  He is built up offscreen as a man Plainview foolishly underestimates, and then is presented as a more honorable man played by actor Hans Howe.  Bandy makes a curious deal in exchange for not turning Plainview in for the murder of Plainview’s “brother” , and allowing the use of his land, insists Plainview be baptized in Eli’s church.  If Bandy is as smart as he seems then I wonder why he is taken in by Eli’s big show and why he would think Plainview could be redeemed with a baptism instead of going to jail.  

The finale in 1927, which flashes forward soon after H.W. returns from boarding school (but not before Plainview has another scene in which he shows the oil man he threatened earlier that his son is back with him in order to lessen his own guilt) with Plainview now in his late 60s has two long scenes.  H.W. now speaks in sign language and notably Plainview is not at his “son’s” wedding.  

A few things stick out to me about the scene between H.W. and Plainview.  First, Plainview is even more bitter and is now nasty to H.W. which he had not been before.   Presumably Plainview’s alcoholism has amplified his greed and is driving H.W., who is a decent man like his birth father, away.  Sadly H.W. is relieved to learn he is an orphan and I hope he is able to be successful and he planned his exit well.  Plainview, a very intelligent man, has never learned to sign in all these years.  The set design shows that Plainview now lives in a mansion but the only other person there is his butler.

The showdown between Plainview and Eli surprised me.  Firstly, Eli while desperate, should have known better than to go to Plainview who is as smart as Eli and hates him fiercely.  At first Eli would seem to have the edge as Plainview is drunk on the floor but as he tricks Eli into admitting his hypocrisies it is clear that Plainview has again bested him.  I do not know that Eli needed to be beaten to death here.  If he had just been forced to leave Plainview’s house with Plainview mocking him it would have been plenty.  Plainview has between his increased alcohol use and the sadness about losing his son, appears to have gone mad and he takes a devilish delight in mocking Eli.  Eli as before never fights back even though he is a much younger man.  Day Lewis’ performance in this scene is incredibly brave.  It takes an astounding amount of confidence to play the scene so big with his exaggerated expressions and stilted gestures yet Day Lewis’ commitment sells it.

The timing is curious as well.  There is no indication that this takes place later than 1927 (I felt it was the day after H.W. leaves) yet Eli speaks of having lost investments in the stock market crash which occurred in October of 1929.  

The closing line “I’m finished” along with the butler’s muted reaction is a nice button.  Perhaps Plainview will go to prison but the butler may not turn him in since Plainview is his source of income.  If so Plainview will eventually die unloved and loved by no one.  

There Will Be Blood is fascinating look at a flawed man during a unique time and setting in U.S. history.  I highly recommend it though acknowledge it is not for all tastes.  *****