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There Will Be Blood


There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day- Lewis won a second Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar for his blistering performance in 2007's There Will Be Blood, a dark and thunderous epic of family, greed, the oil business, and redemption that is probably the most ambitious work of director/screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson.

Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a miner turned oilman who works very hard at fulfilling his eventually dream of building a pipe dream. He clearly takes advantage of his employees and neglects his business partner, his young son, H,B., whose relationship with his father is truly an enigma. Daniel crosses path with a young man named Paul Sunday, who has learned that Daniel is interested in purchasing his family's farm because he believes there is oil on the land. Upon arrival at the farm, Daniel immediately butts heads with Paul's twin brother, Eli, who sees right through Daniel and the evil inside him and is willing to work with him as long as Daniel is willing work with Eli's church.

Giant meets Elmer Gantry in Anderson's long-winded screenplay, based on a novel by Upton Sinclair, that takes an unflinching look at business ethics and religion and how it is virtually impossible for them to exist in perfect harmony. Anderson's crafting of this Plainview character is disturbing and mesmerizing, presented as a man who wants to have control of everyone and everything he comes in contact with and yet live as a complete hermit as well. He's all abut work and he only talks about what he wants to talk about and it becomes clear right away that his relationship with his son is clearly off limits.

Anderson allows this story to unfold slowly, utilizing arresting visuals to keep this story moving. It's almost fifteen minutes into the running time before any dialogue, which was extremely effective in establishing the dark atmosphere of the story; however, it also seemed to be a major contribution in making the film a lot longer than it needed to be. The shots of the oil gushing from the derricks were almost hypnotic, thanks to Anderson's cinematic eye and the Oscar-winning cinematography of Robert Elswit.

The other really squirm-worthy aspect of the story is Daniel's relationship with his son. The child doesn't speak more than three words during the entire movie and he appears terrified of Daniel most of the time. Daniel's treatment of his was more like a pet than like a child and during a scene where he is holding the child down for a doctor's exam, it is clear that this relationship is not what it should be. Daniel's lack of familial bonding is even further explored when a reunion with a brother he never knew he had finds him crossing lines even he never expected.

Day-Lewis completely commands the screen and his second Oscar win was no surprise and Elswit's cinematography was a worthy win as well. In addition to these wins, Anderson received twin nominations for direction and screenplay, as did film editing, art direction, and sound editing. Paul Dano should have been nominated for his unhinged work as the Sunday brothers, but it is the work of Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis that keep the viewer riveted to the screen, even if the screenplay could have used some trimming.