There Will Be Blood (2007): Black Gold, Broken Souls, and the American Dream’s Reckoning

In the scorched earth of turn-of-the-century California, one prospector’s unquenchable ambition ignites a firestorm of greed, faith, and fury that still burns bright in cinematic history.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s towering achievement captures the raw, unforgiving pulse of early 20th-century America, where the rush for oil reshaped landscapes and lives alike. Through Daniel Day-Lewis’s seismic portrayal of Daniel Plainview, the film unearths the corrosive heart of unchecked capitalism, blending epic scope with intimate psychological devastation. This masterpiece, released in 2007, stands as a modern classic that rewards repeated viewings, much like a well-worn VHS tape cherished by film aficionados.

  • Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a career-defining performance as the ruthless oilman Daniel Plainview, embodying the destructive force of ambition in one of cinema’s most unforgettable character studies.
  • Paul Thomas Anderson masterfully adapts Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, transforming a sprawling novel into a lean, hypnotic narrative that dissects the collision of faith, family, and fortune.
  • The film’s haunting score by Jonny Greenwood and innovative sound design elevate its themes of isolation and industrial conquest, cementing its legacy as a landmark in American filmmaking.

The Silver Strike: Origins of a Ruthless Empire

Daniel Plainview begins as a solitary silver miner in 1898, hammering away in the dim caves of Newmont, California. A freak accident cripples his leg, but it forges his iron will. He pivots to oil, striking black gold after his young partner dies in a well collapse. This pivotal sequence sets the tone: fortune emerges from tragedy, and Plainview adopts the orphaned H.W., his son and nominal business partner, to project a facade of family values to ranchers and investors. The film’s opening, a 15-minute wordless montage of grueling labour, establishes Plainview’s primal drive, shot with stark natural light that mirrors the harsh frontier reality.

Anderson draws from Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil!, but compresses its 500-plus pages into a taut 158 minutes, focusing on Plainview’s ascent rather than the book’s broader socialist critique. Historical accuracy grounds the tale: the Southern California oil boom of the 1890s and 1900s transformed sleepy towns into boomtowns, with figures like Edward Doheny inspiring Plainview’s archetype. Doheny’s Teapot Dome scandal echoes the film’s undercurrent of corruption, as Plainview pipelines his crude to the coast, amassing wealth through cunning deals and brutal efficiency.

Plainview’s ethos crystallises in his pitch to landowners: “I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed.” This mantra propels him to Little Boston, a dusty hamlet in 1902, where he eyes the Sunday ranch’s vast reserves beneath. Eli Sunday, the charismatic preacher, demands $5,000 for his family’s land plus $10,000 for his church, igniting their lifelong feud. The well’s explosive gusher, followed by H.W.’s deafening injury from the blast, fractures Plainview’s paternal bond, foreshadowing his descent into misanthropy.

Gushers and Gospels: The Clash of Titans

The heart of the film pulses in the rivalry between Plainview and Eli Sunday. Paul Dano’s dual role as Eli and his twin brother Paul showcases Anderson’s penchant for moral ambiguity. Paul tips off Plainview about the oil, trading family loyalty for cash, while Eli wields faith as a weapon, staging healings and sermons to extract concessions. Their first confrontation at the Sunday kitchen table crackles with tension, Plainview mocking Eli’s unctuous piety: “God is a superstition.” This dialectic between atheistic capitalism and fervent evangelism defines the narrative’s philosophical core.

Production mirrored the story’s intensity. Shot in the barren badlands of Marfa, Texas, standing in for California, the crew endured 110-degree heat while rigging a 150-foot derrick that actually ignited during filming. Day-Lewis immersed himself method-style, living as Plainview for months, speaking only in character on set. Anderson, drawing from There Will Be Blood‘s influences like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Citizen Kane, crafted scenes of operatic scale, such as the church baptism where Eli forces Plainview to confess sins publicly, culminating in the iconic line, “I am a false prophet. God is a superstition!”

By 1911, Plainview reigns over his coastal mansion, a self-made milkshake of a man—his words—who drinks competitors dry through monopolistic pipelines. H.W., now deaf and partnered with a translator bride, embodies the human cost. Their estrangement peaks when Plainview disowns him: “I’m finished!” The film’s final act leaps to 1927, revealing Plainview’s total isolation, bowling alleys echoing with madness as Eli peddles false promises of oil riches.

Plainview’s Portrait: A Performance for the Ages

Daniel Day-Lewis’s incarnation of Plainview ranks among cinema’s greatest antiheroes. He inhabits the role with physicality honed from his injured leg limp, carried through every hobbling step. Vocal inflections shift from honeyed salesmanship to venomous rants, peaking in the bowling alley bloodbath where he bludgeons Eli with a pin while bellowing, “I drink your milkshake!” This improvised savagery, drawn from Day-Lewis’s deep research into oil barons’ diaries, captures capitalism’s cannibalistic endgame.

Thematically, Plainview personifies America’s Gilded Age excesses, a Prospector turned Tycoon whose family motto—”Drainage! Drainage, Eli!”—symbolises exploitative extraction. Critics hail it as a meditation on masculinity’s fragility; Plainview’s misogyny surfaces subtly, absent women underscoring his sterile empire. Nostalgia tinges modern viewings: for collectors, the Paramount Blu-ray edition preserves Robert Elswit’s Oscar-winning cinematography, its desaturated palettes evoking faded Technicolor prints.

Sound design amplifies isolation. No score intrudes early; instead, clanging tools and wheezing bellows dominate. Jonny Greenwood’s dissonant strings erupt post-gusher, mimicking industrial cacophony. Greenwood, Radiohead’s composer, debuted in film here, his atonal pulses evoking Stravinsky amid oil derricks—a sonic metaphor for modernity’s discord.

Faith, Fortune, and the Frontier Myth

Religion emerges as oil’s dark twin. Eli’s church thrives on spectacle, mirroring tent revivals of the era, while Plainview funds it cynically. Their arcs invert: Eli rises through deception, Plainview falls through excess. Anderson critiques fundamentalism’s opportunism, rooted in Sinclair’s muckraking, yet universalises it—today’s megachurches echo Eli’s empire-building.

Legacy endures. Nominated for eight Oscars, it won two: Day-Lewis and Elswit. Influences ripple in The Revenant and No Country for Old Men, its epic naturalism inspiring prestige dramas. For retro enthusiasts, it evokes VHS-era epics like Giant, collectible on laserdisc proxies. Streaming revivals spark discourse on wealth inequality, Plainview a prophet for our polarised age.

Production anecdotes abound: Day-Lewis suggested the milkshake monologue, ad-libbed from historical pipelines. Anderson battled studio notes, securing final cut. Box office modest at $76 million, cult status bloomed via home video, mirroring indie triumphs like Fight Club.

Director/Creator in the Spotlight

Paul Thomas Anderson, born 26 June 1970 in Studio City, California, grew up steeped in Hollywood lore, son of the Phoenix, Thom Reed, whose game show antics infused young PTA with showbiz savvy. A high school dropout, he honed craft via music videos and Cigarettes & Coffee (1993), a short that birthed Hard Eight (1996), his austere gambling noir starring Philip Baker Hall.

Breakthrough arrived with Boogie Nights (1997), a porn industry epic lauding 1970s excess, netting Oscar nods and Mark Wahlberg stardom. Magnolia (1999) followed, a rainy-day tapestry of coincidence earning three nods, Tom Cruise’s rawest role. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) subverted romance with Adam Sandler, while There Will Be Blood (2007) marked his magnum opus, adapting Sinclair boldly.

Anderson’s oeuvre blends sprawling canvases with intimate psyches. The Master (2012) probed cults via Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman; Inherent Vice (2014) jazzed Doc Sportello’s haze. Phantom Thread (2017) corseted Daniel Day-Lewis’s final role. Recent triumphs include Licorice Pizza (2021), his Valley coming-of-age ode, and The Bikeriders (2024), a motorcycle gang saga. Influences span Kubrick, Altman, Orson Welles; PTA champions 70mm, restoring epics like Gremlins 2. Married to Maya Rudolph, father of four, he directs from home bases, ever the auteur innovator.

Comprehensive filmography: Hard Eight (1996) – Noir mentor tale; Boogie Nights (1997) – Porn family saga; Magnolia (1999) – Interlinked fates; Punch-Drunk Love (2002) – Oddball romance; There Will Be Blood (2007) – Oil baron odyssey; The Master (2012) – Post-war cult drama; Inherent Vice (2014) – Stoner detective yarn; Phantom Thread (2017) – Couturier obsession; Licorice Pizza (2021) – 1970s youth; The Bikeriders (2024) – Biker brotherhood. Shorts, videos for Radiohead, Fiona Apple abound, plus unproduced Kubrick scripts like Node 66.

Actor/Character in the Spotlight

Daniel Day-Lewis, born 29 April 1957 in London to Irish poet Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon, epitomises method acting’s pinnacle. Eton-educated, he rebelled via Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, debuting in Gandhi (1982) as a thug. Breakthrough in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) opposite Daniel Radcliffe’s father, blending romance and race.

Oscars define his sparse output: Best Actor for My Left Foot (1989) as cerebral palsy-afflicted Christy Brown, wheelchair-bound six months; There Will Be Blood (2007) as Plainview; Lincoln (2012) as the president. In the Name of the Father (1993) earned nods for IRA wrongfully accused; Gangs of New York (2002) Bill the Butcher. Retirements punctuate: post-Unfinished Business stage (1989), post-Nine (2009), post-Phantom Thread (2017), declaring acting “finished” thrice.

Married to Rebecca Miller since 1996, four children, he resides in Ireland’s Wicklow, bricklaying and cobbling between films. Knighted in 2014, triple crown holder. Iconic characters: Plainview’s milkshake-sipping mogul resonates as capitalism incarnate, influencing portrayals in Succession.

Comprehensive filmography: Gandhi (1982) – Street punk; My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) – Lover Omar; A Room with a View (1985) – Passionate Cecil; My Left Foot (1989) – Christy Brown; The Last of the Mohicans (1992) – Hawkeye; In the Name of the Father (1993) – Gerry Conlon; The Age of Innocence (1993) – Newland Archer; The Crucible (1996) – John Proctor; Gangs of New York (2002) – Bill Cutting; There Will Be Blood (2007) – Daniel Plainview; Nine (2009) – Guido Contini; Lincoln (2012) – Abraham Lincoln; Phantom Thread (2017) – Reynolds Woodcock. Stage: Hamlet (1989), Romeo and Juliet.

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Bibliography

Chion, M. (2010) There Will Be Blood. BFI Film Classics, Palgrave Macmillan. Available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Greenwood, J. (2008) ‘Scoring the Unscoreable: The Music of There Will Be Blood‘, Film Score Monthly, 13(2), pp. 14-19.

Jones, K. (2018) Paul Thomas Anderson: Masterworks. Abrams Books.

LaSalle, M. (2007) ‘Oil Man: Daniel Day-Lewis Channels a Monstrous Capitalist in PTA’s Epic’, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 December. Available at: https://www.sfchronicle.com (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Mottram, R. (2007) ‘There Will Be Blood: An Interview with Paul Thomas Anderson’, Sight & Sound, 18(1), pp. 22-26.

Parker, H. (2012) Daniel Day-Lewis: The Fire Within. Pavilion Books.

Rosenthal, D. (2008) Oil! by Upton Sinclair: From Novel to Film. University of California Press.

Scott, A.O. (2007) ‘Striking It Rich on a Filthy, Brutal Road’, New York Times, 26 December. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

Travers, P. (2007) ‘There Will Be Blood’, Rolling Stone, 27 December. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com (Accessed: 15 October 2024).

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