Day 24: There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson, 2006

This is clearly a very well made film. It reminds me of No Country For Old Men in how well it tells you things, visually. I'll again reference David Mamet's ideas about juxtaposition of shots, and cutting out what is unnecessary.

But I have to be honest here. I don't know what this screenplay is about. I suppose I do have some ideas. It could be about the danger of obsession. It could be about the destructiveness of paranoia. It could be some kind of metaphor for gluttony, or envy, or pride. There are a few things that seem to be pretty significant, and I'm trying to piece together what these things all mean.

1. Daniel's relationship with his son HW is clearly important. Daniel clearly loves his son, but he ultimately chooses his oil company over him. HW is sent away when his hearing becomes a problem and Daniel doesn't want to take time out of his day to help. This is not portrayed, in the script, as a just action, so we as the audience know that Daniel is wrong for doing this. Later, HW willingly leaves Daniel because of Daniel's terrible obsession with oil.

2. Daniel's relationship with his "brother" Henry. Henry is likely just a tool to show Daniel's increasing paranoia and unhealthy stress about his job. As soon as Daniel discovers Henry has been lying, he immediately shoots him. The motivation for this is difficult to write in words, but I think it's meant to show how unreasonable Daniel has become. He's growing a terrible emotional demon inside.

3. Daniel's relationship with Eli. They don't really conflict that much. He probably embodies the things about people that Daniel hates. But Eli's biggest significance seems to come at the very end, when Daniel kills him and states "I'm finished."

This line seems to be the key that I can't figure out. Finished with what? Carrying around an incredible amount of hatred and fear? This story seems to track the development of Daniel's internal darkness until he is finally finished. But I can't seem to grasp why it finishes, or why it makes Daniel behave the way he does, or why this story was constructed with this particular setting.

Though I don't understand the specifics, I do at least understand that the message of this story seems to be "don't do this." Don't carry around these destructive emotions. Don't get involved in a business that will tear you apart and drive you to this point. HW understands that, and he gets out.

If anyone has thoughts on what is going on in this story, please comment. I'd like to hear ideas.