Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

There Will Be Blood
2007
*****
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, Russell Harvard, Dillon Freasier, Colleen Foy, Sydney McCallister

Daniel Plainview is a persuasive oil man who vows to bring prosperity to the community that develops around his oil derricks in the turn of the century. Only gradually do we come to understand his twisted view on money, power, God, his adopted son, and humanity as a whole. Paul Thomas Anderson has created a majestic movie about a monster of a man. His uncompromising epic pits religion and capitalism, two forces that have shaped America, against each other with powerful results. The story was inspired by Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!. Daniel Day-Lewis does not merely act, he creates a complete character to the tiniest detail, be it the hunched walk or the John Huston-like tone of his voice. If he redefines acting, Jonny Greenwood does the same to the soundtrack, which is unusual but hypnotic. Day-Lewis and cinematographer Robert Elswit won deserved Academy Awards.