There Will Be Blood

But Have You Seen It High?

Oh how I love a good Paul Thomas Anderson film, (henceforth referred to as PTA), which is to say I love a PTA film, as they are all good. I have not seen all of them, so cannot say that with full confidence. But his early film repertoire speaks to this. Alright, thinking on his films now maybe I am exaggerating but GOD DAMN. This is a GOOD MOVIE. PTA burst onto the scene in 1997 with Boogie Nights. Okay actually I don’t know when he “burst” onto the scene. He made Hard Eight, a pretty good neo-noir film (the Larry David meaning of pretty good). And then he made the epic Magnolia, which sheesh, book a therapy session for after you watch that film, followed by Punch-Drunk Love, which gave us all a glimpse into Adam Sandler’s range as an actor. Ah, who knew? Comedians have full range of emotions. A wonder. And then he stopped making films. (I should note Fiona has mentioned their relationship was very toxic — there was a lot of drug use, so hopefully he has gotten help. Nonetheless, he made good films.)

So, in 2007 PTA returned with his first film in 5 years, much to the excitement of the film community. I was moving to NYC in early January of 2008 to do my public health internship, and the night before I left we tried to see There Will Be Blood and it was sold out. I was so bummed. So, I saw it in NYC and it was a film that punched me in the gut. I knew I loved it, I didn’t know how to explain what I loved about it. I’ve been wanting to watch it again, and recently put it on, and let the film wash over me. I think that is the best way to view this film. Let it engulf you. It’s audibly beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous and Daniel Day-Lewis dulcet tones can comfort you as you watch this film. It may be a good film to fall asleep to, though I haven’t tried yet. Also screens are bad for sleep. But I love sleeping television.

There Will Be Blood is loosely based/inspired by Upton Sinclair’s book Oil! The differences between the book and the film will not be discussed here, as I did not read the book. There Will Be Blood follows the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his journey to become an oil tycoon. He discovers oil while working as a miner, and sets out to travel up and down California to find land to drill in. He takes with him, H.W., the son of a co-worker who was killed on the job. It’s the closest Daniel comes to love, even though the sweet boy is a bargaining chip exemplifying that Daniel is a family man, not your normal oil man. After many failed attempts, he finds a buyer in the Sunday family, when Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) approaches him and tells him there is oil on their land. Daniel and his son HW head to the Sunday ranch under the guise of quail hunting and looking for land that will provide fresh air. “I’m not going to give them oil prices, I’m going to give them quail prices”. Over dinner, Daniel proposes to buy the land, and is met with dissent from Paul’s twin brother, Eli Sunday( also Paul Dano). Eli knows there is oil on the land, and asks for $10000 for his church, The Church of The Third Revelation. Eli is a fire and brimstone preacher, selling salvation and hope to his congregation. Let’s put it this way, he would have still held church services during the Coronavirus, and probably did during the Flu Pandemic of 1918, though it’s not addressed in the film. His congregation would believe they were fine because they were washed in the blood of Jesus. 

The first fifteen minutes of the film are completely silent. We see Daniel working in the mines and discovering the oil. The silence is effective because you are focused on the natural sounds in the scene. So when Daniel falls to the bottom of the mine he is digging, the slam and the gasps of air he takes as he lands awakens you to the reality of the danger of this line of work. 

PTA’s use of music, of sound and silence is extremely effective in establishing tone of the film. The score, done by Radiohead guitarist and composer, Jonny Greenwood, recreates what movie music should be, expanding but not manipulating our emotions. Whereas the silence in the first fifteen minutes, and the silence used to empathize the audience with H.W.’s loss of hearing (he was too close to a gas explosion) creates a sense of empathy, the score allows us to step into the tension of the film, putting us right into the mindset and feeling of the characters, and also of the general time and tension of this particular era of history. It would be an incredibly boring scene to watch Daniel and others plot out the plans for drilling oil, but Jonny Greenwood’s use of tension and tone in his score elicits the same feeling we may experience in watching a movie where troops are headed to war, or a mafia plots how to kill off their greatest rival. There are moments in the film where the score sets the tone, often changing within the piece of music. In the scene where Daniel and H.W. go out quail hunting, the music switches from sounds of hope, a new beginning, the start of Daniel’s oil empire, and the tension and uncertainty that comes with beginning anything new, seeping us into the conflicted emotions Daniel Plainview is experiencing. 

There are so many films that don’t make good use of combining all the elements of a film, to create a perfect present of a film wrapped in a pretty little bow. Many films tricked me on first viewings into thinking they were good films, because their cinematography and soundtracks were all encompassing. Now, let me clarify. I am a writer. I love story. I thrive on story. For others, if your enjoyment or love of films is purely visual than these films may still be “good” to you. Or we can count this films as visually and auditorily great films. But for me, good writing trumps bad directing/cinematography any day of the week, hands down. I don’t think good directing or cinematography always trumps bad writing. This is why I appreciate the work of PTA. To me, he is one of the best directors of our current era at creating a complete film where every aspect seems intentional in adding to and enhancing the story. At least he was in There Will Be Blood. In addition to how the score influences our feelings without manipulating it, the same is done with the beautiful cinematography and set design in There Will Be Blood. In films where the story or dialogue are lacking, elaborate and beautiful cinematography, no matter how impressive, takes me out of the film. It feels to me a waste of that cinematographer’s talent. In films that move and inspire me, the way the film is shot pulls me in. Each shot is thoroughly intentional to set the mood and tone of the movie, each shot is specifically attuned to the scenes, to the overall story of the film. 

PTA’s dialogue is even written musically, sometimes even it is own iambic pentameter-esque way. There’s times where the conversations flow lyrically, moments where the film punches a quick sharp staccato rhythm. The strength of the dialogue is how sparse and unrevealing it is, and how much of what is actually said is hidden under the words spoken. 

The second act of the film is the moment where Daniel and Eli move from passive aggressive to aggressive. After oil has been discovered, and H.W. has gone deaf from the gas explosion, Eli asks Daniel for the money for his church. Arguing, Daniel drags Eli through the mud, demanding Eli fix his son’s hearing. Unsure what to do about H.W., Daniel sends his son off to find a teacher to help him. But he does it in a way that is essentially abandoning his son. He sets him on a train, lies and says he is going to speak to the conductor, and exits the train, sending H.W. off, accompanied by Daniel’s right hand man, Fletcher. Daniel is also reacquainted with his long lost brother. However, Daniel soon figures out that it is not his brother, and he is taking advantage of Daniel’s generosity, of which Daniel was hesitant to give. We don’t know the backstory of Daniel’s family, what happened to his mother or father, what siblings he has, etc. We can see Daniel’s hope in finding family he could form a bond with. When he figures out that this is not his brother, he is betrayed. And he is that much closer to giving up on the idea of love. 

While sleeping on the Bandy ranch, the one holdout from Daniel’s plan to take over all of the land, he is awoken by Bandy who tells him he needs to go to church and be washed in the blood of Christ for the sin he has committed. Daniel first thins he is talking about his brother, but soon realizes the sin Bandy speaks of is his abandonment of his son. This is Daniel’s greatest sin, the guilt of his actions overwhelms him. 

The scene at the church where Daniel is washed in the blood of Christ, is perhaps the most emotional and revealing scene. Eli Sunday asks Daniel to call out to God to ask for forgiveness, Daniel repeating the words Eli says, dear God, I need you, etc. Daniel doesn’t believe in this false prophecy so he plays along, knowing if he gets through this, he gets the Bandy land and moves closer to his goal of being an oil tycoon. But Eli then asks Daniel to confess, “I’ve abandoned my son.” Daniel says it quietly, a truth he feels but doesn’t want to admit. As Eli repeats the phrase, each time more emphasized, we see the reality of the words wash over Daniel. Tears in his eyes, choking down in his throat, we see and hear his shame of what he did to his son. Even though he was sending his boy to get a good teacher that would help him, Daniel still identifies with the shame, he has abandoned his son. The confession takes over him, he is shaking with the realization. And then, Daniel realizes Eli Sunday is putting on a performance. Perhaps Eli does not believe he is performing, but Daniel realizes and remembers this is all an act. Religion in general is a performance. Daniel realizes he is free, and the deal is done. He has the land. His responses to Eli’s proclamations become more sarcastic and aloof. There’s a great moment where when asked if he wants to be washed in the blood and Daniel responds “Yes I do” in the most sarcastic, obnoxious way. I’ve been walking around my apartment saying it to myself a lot, and maybe another reference I say often in my daily life that no one gets. Take a moment and watch the whole scene here. (The “Yes I do” is at 2:24). This is just a stellar performance by Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano. Also Paul Dano really holds his own in this film against arguably the best actor of all time. Who is the Michael Jordan or Jay-Z of acting. In that he retired, and then came back to the game.

In the last act, Daniel is alone. His son has grown up and married. When he returns to speak to his father and tell him that he is moving with his wife to Mexico to drill for oil there, Daniel focuses on the competition that the two will now take part in. H.W. sits with his father’s interpreter, although he first asks to be alone with his father. Daniel Plainview insists the interpreter stay, as he is one of Daniel’s right hand men and already knows everything. Daniel knows that H.W. can talk, he pretends to not know this fact as H.W. signs, I love you. H.W. speaks in sign language until he confesses his move to Mexico. It’s in that moment that Daniel breaks. H.W. cannot say the words “I love you” out loud, which for Daniel takes away from their meaning. In that moment, Daniel breaks his relationship with H.W., confessing to him that he is not his father, he was baby whose father had just been killed and that he took pity on. With that, Daniel foregoes the one relationship that was the closest to love he had experienced. 

Daniel is alone, in his large house, spending the days drinking, passing out, practicing shooting his gun. Eli Sunday arrives asking Daniel for financial help. Daniel tells him he will if Eli will confess that he is a false prophet and God is an illusion. Eli whispers it quietly, and Daniel in the same fashion that Eli pushed Daniel in the church, asks him to say it louder and with meaning. The inability for Eli to do so, exposes Eli’s own mistrust of the church, his own lack of confidence in what he believes. Daniel was able to admit the reality of his darkest sin, and for Eli by saying out loud that he is a false prophet, Eli faces a truth he knows he believes partially, which reveals his own distrust of his faith. Daniel has won the battle. He owns Eli’s land, he owes him nothing, the land was justly purchased, he was washed himself in the blood of Christ, completing all of the demands expected of him to gain the land. 

This is the famous, “I drink your milkshake” scene, where Daniel explicitly explains to Eli just how he has won this battle, how there is no way Eli can save himself from this loss. The movie ends with Daniel sitting in his bowling alley, with his knees up, and in answering his assistant’s question of whether he needs anything else, Daniel points to the sky and says “I’m finished”. He’s won the battle, he’s ended all his relationships, he is alone, his dream of being an oil tycoon fulfilled. 

The film is packed with symbolism, which again in other films could seem overbearing and fake, but PTA is subtle in his symbolism. In an earlier scene, when H.W. goes deaf from the gas explosion, which is also the moment they strike oil, Daniel sits knees up, facing away from the camera, watching the oil and points his fingers up in celebration. He’s finished. He’s found oil. As he sits there, watching the oil, he is covered in oil, he has struck oil, his son his now deaf, he is an oil man. In the first scene of the second act, when Eli asks for the money for the church now that we have struck oil, Daniel drags him through the mud, and the anger that has been bubbling under the surface, much like the oil bubbling below the land, is now released, gushing everywhere, covering Daniel and all those around him. 

I wrote this piece a while ago, at the height of the pandemic. In that week of writing about it, I must have watched it seven times. I love film. I’m a nerd and LOVE special features on DVDs, which is why I am such a Criterion fan. I’m dealing with some pretty scary health issues now, and just as always, film has been my friend, my family, my confidante in this difficult time. Not that film has replaced my friends and family, just…film has saved my life so many times. Whether distracting me from a shitty relationship in college, or a pandemic, or a chronic illness refusing to let me eat—film will always be one of my very best friends. Thank you for reading, I hope you are all doing well.