Introduction
There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson is the most critically-acclaimed historical drama movie of 2007. In a thrillingly candid manner, the movie depicts the story of an oilman who embarks on a quest for oil riches during the Southern California oil boom. The aim of this paper is to review There Will Be Blood and provide readers with a persuasive material of sufficient weight to convince them to see the film.
Review
The main character of the movie, Daniel Plainview, is a prospector who in the process of mining an ore vein discovers oil and creates a drilling company. After one of his miners dies in a horrific accident, the businessman adopts his orphaned son, H.W. Daniel uses the boy in order to pose as a family man before people willing to invest in his company. Later, the businessman acquires a piece of land rich in oil and starts an incredibly lucrative operation allowing him to prosper.
There Will Be Blood should be seen by those viewers who are interested in a masterful portrayal of brutal force of ruthless chicanery that goes beyond categories. The movie’s scenes of awesome scope are replete with poignant intensity of Daniel’s ambition that can be only matched by unparalleled brutality of his character. The nature of scorching brutality depicted in There Will Be Blood is on the par with a natural disaster in the sense that it is impossible to turn one’s gaze away from it. Therefore, the movie’s power to pierce its audience as a ramrod makes it what it is—a beautiful beast of cinematography. Those who are willing to feast their eyes on the magnificent creature have to remember that experience comes with a toll: it will be impossible to be indifferent to coarse and animalistic nature of capitalism after watching the movie. More than two hours of Daniel’s quest for an unholy grail in an oil-rich desert, show how crude and monstrous a drive for money can be.
The movie reminds its audience of Mr. Bernstein’s argument in Citizen Kane, in which he posits that it is not hard to become enormously wealthy if it is all one wishes to become. Indeed, Daniel’s unrestrained ambition drives him to get up after each fall and without pity and regret burst into flames of greed. He would certainly be at the top of simian hierarchy if he were placed on Darwinian continuum. Not unlike a corporate CEO, whose only interest is a bottom line of their company, the businessman explores oil wells and people around him. Harmful effects and toxic nature of capitalism are especially evident in this dark, American success story when Daniel with wolfish perversity becomes a formidable opponent of his stepson, his brother impostor, and a priest.
Conclusion
There Will Be Blood is a consummate work of art that offers its audience a chance to glance into a dark and oily well of human consciousness. The movie opens an ocean of greed punctuated by a deep voice of the oil businessman that draws viewers’ attention like a potent magnet. There Will Be Blood is a story that cannot be missed because not only does it transcend its historical context by providing its audience with invaluable insights into the devastating nature of capitalism, but it is also an unapologetically aesthetic piece of cinematography.