There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood is a film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson that’s loosely based off of Upton Sinclair’s novel, Oil! The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and I know him for his ability to pull of many kinds of accents. In the films that I have seen him in he does a late 19th century upper class American accent in The Age of Innocence, a 17th century New England accent in The Crucible, a 19th century New York accent in Gangs of New York, and a 19th century Kentucky/Indiana accent in Lincoln. Day-Lewis is considered to be a method actor, and his known for doing extensive research and going beyond what is necessary for roles. I watched a few interviews of him talking about different roles he’s had in films and from what I could tell he was respectful and kind of soft-spoken, nothing like his role in There Will Be Blood. In the film he played as Daniel Plainview, an oil man that will go to great lengths to get what he wants.

Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday, played by Paul Dano, are the most compelling characters within the film. Daniel adopted a boy after his father was killed at a drilling company and claimed him as his own, using him as a business partner to lure in people with his phrase, “I’m a family man”. Eli Sunday is the pastor of The Church of the Third Revelation and claims to be some sort of prophet. Both characters are frauds and they’re not likable characters, but the actors pulled the roles off exceptionally well and were very believable. Paul Dano only had a small amount of time to prepare for his role as Eli, but I never would have guessed that since he did so well under the circumstances.

The most interesting thing about Daniel and Eli is the fact that you never know what to be believe and what not to believe. I could never tell if something they said was genuine or not. There were scenes when Daniel seemed caring of his adopted son and others where he seemed like he could care less and was only using him. I couldn’t tell if he really didn’t care or if he was purposefully pushing his son away and making him believe that he felt that way. When his adopted son visited him towards the end of the movie, Daniel mocked him and told him that he was only using him. He appeared to be heartless, and his son walked away and claimed that he was glad that he wasn’t his real son. It could be possible that he didn’t care but I think Daniel pushed his son away because he thought his son deserved better. Eli was very passionate about the church and fulfilled the role as a prophet. He was over the top and Daniel even stated that he put on “one hell of a good show”. Though I knew he was faking the whole thing, he did put on a performance and I think if I was there I would have been fooled like the rest of the people in the church.

The dynamic between Daniel and Eli was pretty interesting. They absolutely hated each other and there were a few scenes that included the two characters that I really liked. When Daniels son became deaf after a gas blowout, Daniel approaches Eli and physically attacks him, pulling him through the mud and humiliating him. Eli had blamed the gas blowout on the fact that it wasn’t blessed and Daniel was pretty frustrated, so what he did was kind of justifiable, but the most interesting part in the scene is Eli’s screams as he’s being beaten. They were high pitched and they sounded kind of demonic. In another scene, Eli baptizes Daniel, but not without striking and humiliating him first. The most interesting scene between the two, though, is at the end of the movie. Eli goes to Daniel with a deal for drilling rights on William Bandy’s property, but Daniel tells him he will only accept if Eli claims he is a false prophet. Eli does so, but Daniel admits that the property is worthless. After an argument, Daniel chases Eli around his bowling alley and beats him to death with a bowling pin. Though the movie wasn’t a horror film, there were themes and music that made it feel as if it was. The characters, Eli and Daniel, were a bit sinister and the movie was a bit unsettling, mainly due to the good acting in the film.