The Beauty Of…There Will Be Blood
The turn of the 20th century was a pivotal point in U.S. history. America was at a crossroads between old traditions and the unstoppable force of industrialization. There Will Be Blood(2007) paints an insightful picture of this conflict between old and new.
Set between 1828 and 1827, its character-driven narrative features leads who offer insight into human greed and selfishness through both religion and industry.
Daniel Plainview, portrayed by Oscar-award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis, is a swindling oil prospector whose desire for power reveals him to be an almost psychopathic character.
Eli Sunday, portrayed by the incredibly underrated Paul Dano, is the pastor of a small town who acts like a prophet yet seems to harbor a profit-motive under the surface. As tension builds, the conflict between these two men leaves the audience to question the destructive nature of power and greed. Daniel Plainview is a despicable man in every sense of the word. When creating the character, director Paul Thomas Anderson, was partially inspired by Dracula.
Plainview isn’t literally a blood-sucking monster who stalks his prey,
but he is in a more metaphorical sense; he craves the blood of the Earth, oil; he seeks oil for profit and competition. Daniel defines his ambitions by stating, “I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”
A film’s protagonist is often meant to engender sympathy. Plainview has a “son,” but from the start, we learn he abducted the child after the father died in an accident. He later bluntly admits that he only used the child, H.W., to market himself as a family man. His supposed “brother”—who later admits to being an imposter—is mainly used as a confidant, privy to his inner hatred for the world. He has no true family and is only driven by accumulating wealth. Every action Plainview takes, even under the guise of kindness, is for his own material gain. He is the utter embodiment of the unfettered capitalism which so dominated the gilded age.
Eli Sunday, on the other hand, first appears to be a kind, god-fearing man. Yet, as the narrative progresses, Sunday’s faith is called into question. He wants to bless Plainview’s oil rig, but only if Plainview gives him a proper, public introduction. Eli even lashes out at his father for letting Plainview buy up the land around their farm.
Despite his initially kind affect, he mocks his father, asking, “do you think God is going to save you for being stupid?” When we see him preaching at his church, Eli claims to hear God’s voice and to have the power to cure people of physical ailments. Little by little, Sunday’s mask is taken off to reveal yet another greedy man, one set on building up his church and accumulating a following. Sunday has weaponized religion for his own gain, similar to some modern televangelists today.
Though these men work in different fields, there is a strange ever-growing hostility between them. Sunday controls the spiritual life of the town, while Plainview begins to dominate the town's economy and industry.
As Sunday demands money for the church, Plainview lashes out and he slaps Sunday in a pool of oil like a corrupt, twisted baptism.
Sunday retaliates with his own false baptism. He brings Daniel to the church only to humiliate him by forcing him to confess that he abandoned his son H.W. These two resent each other for reasons left unspoken, but their rivalry is a powerful metaphor.
Eli represents the traditional power structure in America. The church and spiritual life had a heavy influence over a community’s life. Plainview represents the captains of industry that began to dominate society during the industrial revolution. God and Christianity are becoming increasingly less influential as industry and oil gain more importance. America is at a crossroads and There Will Be Blood is a microcosm of this greater transition.
This simmering conflict comes to a violent climax at the end of the movie. After a significant time jump, Sunday visits Plainview one final time at his private bowling alley. Now, Sunday has become a televangelist while Plainview remains financially successful yet drunk and alone. Sunday confesses that money is tight and he is a sinner. In his desperation, he begs Plainview for money, offering to lease him more land on which to mine for oil.
This simmering conflict comes to a violent climax at the end of the movie. After a significant time jump, Sunday visits Plainview one final time at his private bowling alley. Now, Sunday has become a televangelist while Plainview remains financially successful yet drunk and alone. Sunday confesses that money is tight and he is a sinner. In his desperation, he begs Plainview for money, offering to lease him more land on which to mine for oil.
In Plainview’s anger, he begins to attack Sunday, tossing bowling balls and pins at him. This conclusion is pathetic in a way. It’s two miserable men fighting a battle already won. Yet, Plainview’s competitive nature will not let him stop until the bloody end.
In one last act of violence, Plainview strikes down Sunday after proclaiming himself, “the third revelation.” What does he mean? He means the era of religion controlling society is over; Sunday is a dying breed of megalomaniac. Now is the time of industry and oil. Men like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan will dominate society. This senseless violence is symbolic of the unstoppable change which comes for us all.
Sunday’s death is the death knell of the old America. The west was the last frontier for the past, and it too has now been taken over by Plainview and company. Plainview has struck down his competition.
He knows he’s won before his fight with Sunday begins: this is just the salt in the wound. There Will Be Blood uses the conflict between these two men to show the eternal greed that permeates American society.
From Eli Sunday to Daniel Plainview to Jeff Bezos, one power-hungry force will overtake the last. This pattern is central to many modern issues today. In the end, there truly is nothing left to say except, as Plainview exclaims, “I’m finished.”