The Finest Film I've Ever Seen: There Will Be Blood

The Finest Film I've Ever Seen: There Will Be Blood

(Plot synopsis:The film follows the rise to power of Daniel Plainview - a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and desperate need to see any and all competitors fail. When he learns of oil-rich land in California that can be bought cheaply, he moves his operation there and begins manipulating and exploiting the local landowners into selling him their property. Using his young adopted son H.W. to project the image of a caring family man, Plainview gains the cooperation of almost all the locals with lofty promises to build schools and cultivate the land to make their community flourish. He has no intention of doing so; his only purpose is to make money. Over time, Plainview's gradual accumulation of wealth and power causes his true self to surface and over the course of his endeavors, men die, the locals get nothing and Plainview gets rich. In his life he makes few friends and many enemies and even his adopted son H.W. is eventually alienated-Wikipedia)

(First off, see this film. See it as soon as you can.)

I remember the first time I saw There Will Be Blood. There was a sense at the end that I had seen a film about something darker and more visceral than I could imagine in my most secretive nightmares. This was a story about humanitys downfall and the purity of evil. I mean that not to say evil is good or should be revered. In this case of Paul Thomas Andersons epic, it means that evil can have a code and be structured, almost to the point of having its own morality. I think most audiences can respect, if not kind of relate, with a villain who has no illusions about his sin. From any perspective, a character that knows who and what he is, what he represents and where it will lead him is a god send to the audience. They can tune into the motivation of the anti-hero, relating to he or she on a base level of instinct.

I think its perfectly acceptable to question whether this is a healthy endeavor, to have an audience spend ample time with a flawed, harsh main character, especially, if when its all said and done, he isn't redeemable. In the case of There Will Be Blood, Daniel Plainview never comes within a mile of redemption, even as baptismal water is poured over his greased hair. Even then, his intentions, while not as sickening as that of the young pastor who humilitates him, are purely self motivated and wrong. But, in the case of a film such as this, its a good truth to know.

In a real society, bad guys win. Greed can win. You see it in politics and in hypocritical houses of God. You see it in your every day dealings, people who are entirely driven by their own desire. We're all guilty at one point or another of doing the same. What struck me about this film is that its tyrant is perfectly self aware. He's a liar, but he's not justifying his deception. He's gladly allowing himself to be a pariah in bloom. At first, he's simple and seems a family man. But the adopted son is his greatest mascarade. He uses these simple tricks to drag innocence through the muck. It works, as it works time and time again in our everyday lives.

What does the film say about humanity as a whole? That there are good folks, bad folks and those in between. The folks in between pepper this film heavily, souls lost and found in their own anguish, forced to deal with the reality of life and death in a moment in time when the latter was much more common. Through those eyes, one can see the disillusioned grandeur that built empires of greed and angst. It's a sufficient answer to a multi-faceted question. Can evil have order and thus be successful? Yes, unfortunately...it can. And Daniel Plainview is the bastard child of this idea, a man of sheer will power driven by nothing but the lure of control.

I watch There Will Be Blood quite often. As an aspiring filmmaker and screenwriter, it represents to me the pinnacle of what poets can achieve, a true depiction of evil working out its on demons. It's scary territory, especially if you're a moral person who has standards. But, in its grasp of the darkness, it illuminates the idea of goodness. There is, beneath the oil and carnage of the film, a light. It's dim, but its there to be seen if people strip away the layers.

I reccommend watching this film with a most open mind and no distractions.