There Will Be Blood (2007)

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson | 158 minutes | drama | Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ciaran Hinds, Dillon Freasier, Sydney McCallister, David Willis, David Warshofsky, Colton Woodward, Colleen Foy, Russell Harvard

Get the Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis ready. That seems to be the consensus among critics after seeing Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest epic ‘There Will Be Blood’. And indeed, Day-Lewis once again gives such a typical grandiose interpretation that we are used to from him. He is the reason that you as a viewer can not take your eyes away from the screen. Because, even when nothing happens, Day-Lewis’s intense and often mocking gaze ensures that there is always something interesting to watch.

Lucky Day-Lewis makes such an intriguing presence in the film, as the handling of the content leaves something to be desired, especially when viewed in perspective with the film’s epic running time. Daniel Plainview’s character is interesting, as is his relationship and interactions with those around him, but as a viewer you get the impression that the big themes of the story, such as greed, hatred, love, faith, jealousy, are better expressed. could have come if individual characters and their relationships were more developed than they are now. It is now mainly Plainview himself, who dominates practically every scene through Day-Lewis’s interpretation and keeps the viewer mesmerized, who is extensively treated in his behavior – verbally, but especially non-verbally. Now, although his character is what the whole movie is about, his relationship with his environment is what shapes him, so this element certainly deserves a lot of attention.

It is also questionable whether the type of approach of Day-Lewis is always the right choice. His piercing eyes and calculating demeanor are undoubtedly fascinating to watch, but it is all very reminiscent of his character from ‘Gangs of New York’, the rather over-the-top operating Bill the Butcher. Not only is such a rendition not surprising anymore, a psychologically slightly more subtle approach might have been better to let this character come to life. Especially the last key scene of the movie, when Plainview goes all the way, Day-Lewis is in full Bill the Butcher mode. It’s the scene that the viewer will probably remember the most, although this may not be Anderson’s intention. Or should be. The motivations and different layers of the character that occasionally surface during the film are fascinating, but now Plainview will mainly be remembered as a mad maniac.

There are some brilliant acting moments in the film, one of which immediately precedes the just-discussed scene of Plainview’s over-the-top behavior. It’s a humiliating scene in which Day-Lewis takes his revenge on Paul Dano’s character Eli Sunday, who, in a sense, took on Plainview in his pursuit of oil and wealth, committing him earlier in the film to becoming an atheist. be baptized in Sunday’s church, and thus accept the blood of Christ. That scene is hilarious because of Plainview’s dry way of undergoing the ceremony, repeating the lines commanded by Sunday. Plainview’s later satisfaction in the mirror scene at his home is especially painful to watch, but also humorous because of the identification the viewer feels here with this anti-hero.

This identification is unfortunately not always strongly present during the rest of the film, despite and, coupled with the limited development of the story and social relations, this leads to too much lack of an essential bond of the viewer with the film. And then the length of the film becomes a problem.

Technically the film is beautiful, with beautiful images of landscapes and drilling actions, and an atypical, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’-esque musical score by Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood. In addition to the acting Oscar for Day-Lewis, nominations for various audiovisual disciplines are not inconceivable. The first approximately twenty minutes in particular are an almost abstract experience for the viewer. It is not spoken and we only see Plainview who, standing in a hole, is drilling, and later on in the open, working with several colleagues when he turns out to have found oil. The most important person in Plainview’s life, besides himself, is also introduced, namely his (foster) son. It’s a meditative experience, and the viewer no doubt has the thought of whether Anderson has the courage to actually do this throughout the film. Whether this would have been desirable is open to question, but it would have been a bold choice.

Because, indeed, it turns out to be a film with dialogue. Like Stanley Kubrick’s aforementioned masterful film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, there are conventional interactions between characters in the film later on, and the introductory purely audiovisual opening is just a teaser. But unlike that movie, ‘There Will Be Blood’ loses a lot of its abstract character. ‘2001’ remains consistent in its alienating tone, and complex, ambiguous storyline or intent. The form and content of that film may not be equally appealing to everyone, but they fit together perfectly. ‘There Will Be Blood’, however, seems to actually want to understand characters or to bring them into the limelight, but keeps the viewer too far away to achieve this. Formally speaking, the film is a little gem, but the running time is too stretched to keep the sparse story captivating for a long time. Too many scenes add little substance, so it is likely that the viewer’s attention wanes repeatedly during the more than two and a half hours that the film lasts. It’s a good thing that there is so much to enjoy in the audiovisual field, and that Daniel Day Lewis’ acting is so intense that the length of the film and the lag of psychological and sociological developments are still quite compensated.