Last night I went to see "There Will Be Blood," the new Daniel Day-Lewis movie based on the book "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair. If you're planning on watching this later, be warned that there may be spoilers ahead.
Let me start off by saying that Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing. Just amazing. I don't know how better to articulate that. All through the movie I had this haunted feeling that he reminded me of someone, but I couldn't ever quite put a finger on who. Whoever it was, it definitely wasn't Daniel Day-Lewis. This movie is worth seeing just for him.
This movie is the story of a man who starts out as a gold miner, or possibly someone with the geological survey (I am not sure, though I know they say it), who ends up as an oil magnate in California. He goes into towns that have oil in the ground, sweet-talks everyone into selling or leasing their land to him, and makes boatloads of money. The conflict in the movie comes in when a teenage boy, Eli Sunday, demands money to start up his own "Church of the Third Revelation" from selling his land to the oilman. The oilman promises $5000, which he does not intend to pay. The boy and the man become enemies.
That's pretty much the story. It unfolds over 30 years, as you watch Daniel Plainview start out mining by himself underground, expanding to oil, adopting the baby of a miner killed at an oil well, becoming successful, and then having his life start to unravel when he moves to drill in the town where Eli Sunday lives.
The soundtrack was very interesting. Ominous notes - often just single, discordant notes - hover and buzz as characters go about their business. I don't know that I've ever seen a movie which uses a musical score to convey a sense of doom so effectively. Maybe not of doom, but foreboding. The people in the movie make big, dark decisions and those decisions are underscored perfectly by the score.
For the first several minutes of the movie, there is no dialogue. None. If I go see this again, I'd like to time how long it is before we hear anyone say a word, but it's got to be about 10 minutes. Which brings me to another point: this movie is long. It's long. Nothing is rushed. Conversations take their time. Character development takes it time. This is a long movie which seems even longer than it really is. But you're not sitting there bored, wishing it would end. That's just the pace of the story - the events in the movie set things in motion that take several years to develop, and the movie spools it out at a pace that conveys the scope of the story.
The overriding theme of the movie, to me, was this: Blood is thicker than water, but oil is thicker than blood. Daniel adopts the son of one of his dead workers to portray himself as a family man. However, when the boy is injured on an oil derrick and becomes deaf, Daniel rejects him and sends him away. Then, when he needs the boy in order to make a key business deal, he takes him in again.
Let me start off by saying that Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing. Just amazing. I don't know how better to articulate that. All through the movie I had this haunted feeling that he reminded me of someone, but I couldn't ever quite put a finger on who. Whoever it was, it definitely wasn't Daniel Day-Lewis. This movie is worth seeing just for him.
This movie is the story of a man who starts out as a gold miner, or possibly someone with the geological survey (I am not sure, though I know they say it), who ends up as an oil magnate in California. He goes into towns that have oil in the ground, sweet-talks everyone into selling or leasing their land to him, and makes boatloads of money. The conflict in the movie comes in when a teenage boy, Eli Sunday, demands money to start up his own "Church of the Third Revelation" from selling his land to the oilman. The oilman promises $5000, which he does not intend to pay. The boy and the man become enemies.
That's pretty much the story. It unfolds over 30 years, as you watch Daniel Plainview start out mining by himself underground, expanding to oil, adopting the baby of a miner killed at an oil well, becoming successful, and then having his life start to unravel when he moves to drill in the town where Eli Sunday lives.
The soundtrack was very interesting. Ominous notes - often just single, discordant notes - hover and buzz as characters go about their business. I don't know that I've ever seen a movie which uses a musical score to convey a sense of doom so effectively. Maybe not of doom, but foreboding. The people in the movie make big, dark decisions and those decisions are underscored perfectly by the score.
For the first several minutes of the movie, there is no dialogue. None. If I go see this again, I'd like to time how long it is before we hear anyone say a word, but it's got to be about 10 minutes. Which brings me to another point: this movie is long. It's long. Nothing is rushed. Conversations take their time. Character development takes it time. This is a long movie which seems even longer than it really is. But you're not sitting there bored, wishing it would end. That's just the pace of the story - the events in the movie set things in motion that take several years to develop, and the movie spools it out at a pace that conveys the scope of the story.
The overriding theme of the movie, to me, was this: Blood is thicker than water, but oil is thicker than blood. Daniel adopts the son of one of his dead workers to portray himself as a family man. However, when the boy is injured on an oil derrick and becomes deaf, Daniel rejects him and sends him away. Then, when he needs the boy in order to make a key business deal, he takes him in again.
The relationship between Daniel and the boy, H.W., is really quite complex. For much of the movie Daniel shows a lot of affection for the boy, but is then able to cast him away. One of the times in the movie when Daniel becomes the most angry and unhinged is when he perceives that someone else is trying to tell him how to raise H.W. As a boy, H.W. follows Daniel around everywhere, and Daniel actively teaches him all about the oil business and how to succeed - but only as a partner. Start your own business, and you become a competitor. Daniel can not abide competitors.
Midway through the movie, Daniel is surprised by the appearance of his half-brother. Previously unaware of his existence, Daniel accepts this man into his family, and he acts as a surrogate, usurping the place originally held by H.W. As with H.W., however, the half-brother soon finds out where Daniel stands when it comes to family vs. business.
One of the most striking parts of this movie, overall, is that there is no clear "good guy." Daniel is clearly the main character, but I stop short of calling him a protagonist because I'm not sure we are supposed to really like him in any way. His rival, Eli Sunday, is ruthless in his own way. Both characters display a shocking preponderance toward spite and revenge.
There is no heartwarming ending.
I know all of this is probably not adding up to a ringing endorsement for all of you, but I did like the movie. It makes you think. I don't know that it's very rewatchable - it makes you too uncomfortable for that - but I would like to see it again. All aspects of the movie are very well done.
I clearly need to see this Daniel Day-Lewis fellow in action. I've heard that Gangs of New York is just okay as a movie, but it's worth seeing just for him. I'll watch that tonight, and There Will Be Blood as soon as I can get it from Netflix.
ReplyDeleteOK, I've finally seen There Will Be Blood (and Gangs of New York). Daniel Day-Lewis is awesome in both of them.
ReplyDeleteI also saw No Country for Old Men, and I can certainly see why it won Best Picture, but I think There Will Be Blood might be the better movie. It's a tough call.