There Will Be Blood is a meditation on the darker side of the American soul - and at the same time not much more than penny dreadful, brimful of ideas and astonishing performances that don't quite gel as well as they should.
The film has largely been sold on the frigthening intensity of Daniel Day-Lewis's performance - and that's fair. Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a silver prospector, who, when we first meet him, discovers crude oil deposits in his mine. Plainview's essential characteristics are established early on: his dogged determination borders on obsession - suffering a painful accident in his mine, he nevertheless hauls himself out and crawls to the prospecting office to confirm that he has struck oil. He's hands-on and driven to succeed, no one and nothing will stop him; the fatalities suffered by his workers are blocked out, but some glint of humanity shows itself as he takes a-now orphaned baby boy under his wing.
Over the following 2.5 hours, the film reveals how he seeks to strike oil elsewhere and how far he'll go to claim land that's oil-rich, and details his meetings and dealings with a young preacher. Indeed, after the first 25 minutes, the film features a series of clashes between Plainview and the preacher (played with some considerable spirit in the face of Day-Lewis's scenery chewing by Paul Dano), and each time the intensity of the clash escalates.
Plainview is more than willing sacrifice everyone around him, including family, and yet the loneliness gnaws at him. Carrying a large chip on his shoulder as well, it soon becomes apparent that Plainview is one of Western cinema's great anti-heroes, clearly intelligent and capable, yet divorced from kinship and consumed by obsession: he's on a knife-edge throughout, his violent streak ready to present itself at any time.
Plainview is clearly meant to be a cipher for America: driven by desire for the black gold, he fills his coffers but his soul goes un-nourished; he promises roads, schools and communities - but wants to smash the church at the centre of the community, not just because it's at the centre, but also because it's corrupt; having succeeded, at all costs, isolated and no longer doing what he was seemingly born to do, the obsession destroys Plainview, until there's only the uncomprehending bully left.
Exquisitely directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), and jarringly scored by Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood to the desired effect, this ultimately is an insane slab of American gothic. It's not too much of a stretch to say that had it been filmed 35 years ago, it would have been made by Hammer Studios with Vincent Price in full Witchfinder General swagger in the lead. There were many scenes where my friends and I were slack-jawed in a mixture of horror and amazement.
Mention should also be made of the top-notch sound design, which takes the cinematic experience to a new level.
Viewers be warned: this is not for the squeamish. The finale might best be described as over the top. If you liked Robert De Niro when he was young and lethal, then you'll enjoy this.
It's clearly no coincidence that Anderson should unveil this piece now, as we stand on the brink of a peak oil disaster - Western oil has run out and we have to rely on our enemies in the East to supply us with our essential power source. We can but hope that America does not become as obsessed as Plainview and wreak its vengeance in the same way.
Score: 8.5/10
There Will Be BloodIMDb
So, the Coens did it: No Country wins Best Film, Director, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay. The other big winners on the night: La Vie En Rose (Best Actress for Marion Cotillard and Make-up) and The Bourne Ultimatum (three technical wins).
