I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's highly regarded There Will Be Blood starring Daniel Day-Lewis a few weeks ago, mainly because of the accolades the film had already received and others that were breathlessly anticipated.On Oscar night, the film walked away with two statuettes, for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit), after being nominated for eight.
Today, April 8 the film is being released on DVD.
However, the most impressive aspect of the film is really Johnny Greenwood's interesting score, which allthough it was declared ineligible for Academy Award consideration received the lion's share of critical commentary devoted to the movie apart from the superlatives bestowed upon Daniel Day-Lewis' riveting Daniel Plainview.
Anderson's adaptation of Lewis Sinclair's novel Oil! dramatizes the story of greed, entrepeneurship and industrialization which fueled the rapid growth of the California oil industry and the state itself. When we first see Plainview he is alone, in the dark, mining for silver and precious metals. He soon suffers a horrible industrial accident which breaks his leg and he acquires a limp. Through another industrial accident he acquires an adopted son. Soon after he uses the presence of the adorable kid to acquire rights to drill for oil in a virgin oilfield. The story of the movie is the story of Daniel Plainview's acquisitions: oilfields, wealth, real estate.
It is the story of the rise and fall of one man and serves as a metaphor for the development of the Industrial Revolution in California. In the end, the impact of the film is inextricable from Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, which somewhat overwhelms the viewer.
GRADE: B+.
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