There Will Be Blood *****

Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Year: 2007

Cinematographer: Robert Elswit

Original music: Jonny Greenwood

Inspired by Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!" and production design stolen from early photographs, PT Anderson cooks up a quintessentially American story.

Swindling capitalists and swindling evangelical preachers, two powerful groups who maintain great wealth and influence in our society... the two wings of the conservative party.

The capitalists must be friends with the religious, or else the religious won't let the capitalists take financial control, but the religious leaders need the capitalists as friends if they want to make any money. So the two swindle each other while they both swindle the masses, one reaps personal wealth and the other power over the doors to heaven and hell.

They look like friends in front of the masses, the capitalists and the preachers, because they both know they need each other to get rich... but behind closed doors... maybe they are the worst of enemies because when their greed clashes, what determines who will get away with the wealth and power? PT Anderson shows us that when these two greedy swindlers clash, "there will be blood."

Note the name H.W., Plainview's son... reminds me of George H.W. Bush.

And note the name of the preacher, Eli Sunday. Reminds me of Billy Sunday, the most famous evangelical preacher of the early 20th century.

Note that young H.W. seems to be baptized in oil near the beginning of the film by his real father, just one scene before his tragic death.

Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of the top 5 performances of all-time as Daniel Plainview the oilman.

Script is incredible, not only for the depth of relevance it gives us just below the surface between the two great manipulative forces in American society, but for dialogue that you just can't forget, especially when delivered so forcefully by Daniel Day-Lewis. Also, I think the script is heads and shoulders above other films of our era because of the information it leaves out. Leaving us to speculate, we the audience are not fed details that aren't important, if you can't glean the significance of certain pieces of the visual story telling, then you need to start looking harder at film and use your brain to analyse, to ask questions while you watch the film and think for yourself why characters might be motivated to..., or how they know... You've got to watch, and you've got to engage the film on its own terms, and thats exactly how cinema should be.

The camera moves ominously, and the music adds layers of genuine tension that almost drive the audience mad. Incredible original music score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

Perfect cinematography by Robert Elswit, I love big cinematic stuff, and the oil rig blast and subsequent fire are magnificent.

Can't believe I waited so long to see it a second time. I look forward to engaging with it again, and hopefully getting my hands on a DVD with a lot of behind the scenes features.

A new classic, a must see.