The outstanding cinematography in the drama There Will Be Blood (2007) separates it from other films in the genre. The clothing, setting, and camerawork are all flawless. The performance (by both Paul Dano and Daniel-Day Lewis) is among the best in movie history, and the soundtrack is faultless. Let’s examine this film, which many consider to be among the best ever created, bearing all of this in mind right away. There will be spoilers after this explanation of the There Will Be Blood narrative and conclusion.
What’s the story behind There Will Be Blood?
The story, which takes place in the 1900s, centres on a man who will stop at nothing to grow his oil mining operation. It’s a tale about blood (family), power, and greed (violence).
There Will Be Blood| A Brief Summary of the Plot
Daniel Plainview raises H.W., the man’s orphaned son, as his own after one of his employees passes away. Daniel is a cunning oil tycoon who uses the boy to enhance his reputation and present himself as a dedicated father who runs a successful family business.
Paul sees Daniel on Sunday.
One day, Paul Sunday comes up to Daniel and offers to tell him—in exchange for $500—that the area around his family farm is rich in oil. Daniel, who is travelling with HW, camps next to the Sunday family’s farm and confirms that there is oil there. Everything takes place in California, close to the community of Little Boston.
having Eli
Daniel moves his men to begin drilling right away, negotiates the purchase fast, and begins mingling with the locals. Eli, Paul’s twin brother who portrays the village rabbi, and Bandy, a local farmer who refuses to sell, are his two biggest challenges. Bandy is a devout man (much influenced by Eli), and he believes that Daniel is a man with serious character flaws who will only cause harm to the neighbourhood.
The argument between Henry, Bandy, Daniel, and Eli
Several mishaps befall Daniel and his business when he rejects Eli’s help. One of them is an explosion that renders HW deaf.
A man who claims to be Henry, Daniel’s half-brother, comes to see him. The two become more intimate, but Daniel violently kills the man with his own hands after learning that he is a phoney. When Bandy learns of this, he asks Eli to baptise Daniel so that he may sell his land. Eli humiliates Daniel during the baptism in front of the congregation before departing for missionary work.
The action jumps to 1927, when Eli approaches Daniel for financial assistance and even makes the offer to sell Bandy’s farm. Daniel reveals that he has drained everything beneath Bandy’s farm and that he no longer requires it because of the drainage system. Then, while making fun of Eli, he starts beating him to death.
Blood Will Be Spilled| Explained| Questions and Answers
Eli and Paul were they the same person?
No, Paul and Eli, who were portrayed by the same actor, Paul Dano, were identical twins. Eli wasn’t deceiving anyone in the style of Nolan.
What has become of Paul?
Paul took his $500 and fled his home to pursue his dream of being rich. Although what happens to him isn’t shown, it’s unlikely that he was successful considering his blind spot.
Why did HW set the home on fire?
HW was replaced by Henry since Henry had lost his hearing. In an abortive effort to assassinate Henry, HW sets the house on fire out of jealousy.
What has become of HW?
In the end, HW understands that Daniel merely adopted him to portray a loving family in order to support his business. HW marries Eli’s sister and departs feeling relieved that he is not Daniel’s blood relative.
Why was Daniel responsible for Eli’s death in There Will Be Blood: The Ending?
The single driver of all of Daniel’s actions—relentless greed—can be reduced to a one-word explanation for why he killed Eli.
Many individuals believe that Eli’s murder was needless because Daniel already had Eli cornered. They fail to recognise that Daniel is pure greed and has far less control over his urges than he initially appears to. Although greed frequently appears to be well-intentioned and clever, in reality, it is more of an instinct, urge, or even addiction.
A person with this greed disease is constantly in need of more. Eli’s presence to ask for assistance is therefore insufficient; Daniel wants him to deny his faith. After he completes that, it is once more insufficient. Additionally, by including his “smarter” sibling in the conversation, he needs to emotionally destroy him. Daniel reaches for Eli’s life, the only thing he still has, but even this is insufficient. Only then is he “done,” as the character puts it in the final line of the film.
Blood Will Be Spilled| Themes
Border-Raider Anti-Hero
The setting was one of the aspects that piqued viewers’ interest in the film. The story takes place from 1898 and 1927, which is one of the most intriguing and understudied periods in American history. Although the setting is comparable to 1922, the ideas and motifs are very different. Men who were capable, brave, and bold headed west in pursuit of adventure and undiscovered wealth.
Daniel and HW handle every task independently. Despite being a wealthy oil mogul, he only has his son with him when he goes out. The things were easier back then, but today someone with his schedule would require a virtual assistant merely to keep track of all their tasks. They pretended to be a father-and-son team quail hunting, prospected for oil, conned the local farmers, and negotiated all the deals themselves.
Frontiersmen of this kind hold a significant position in American folklore. Daniel, though, is hardly a hero. Jonathan Swift writes on the governmental practises of a far-off country in Gulliver’s Travels, noting that they choose their leaders based on their integrity rather than their qualifications. In his view, it is worse if a person is capable if they are dishonest and malevolent, says the monarch of that far-off, imaginary kingdom. Daniel is who he is. Daniel is capable and reliable, but also aggressive, spiteful, and vicious.
Most other films would feature a struggle between good and evil. Here, two distinct forms of evil are at odds with one another. Eli is a deceitful prophet who enjoys the respect of his people, while Daniel is a cunning oil tycoon. In a manner, Eli represents conceit, and Daniel represents greed.
Family and Blood
The film’s in-depth treatment of the ideas of blood and family is one of its most important elements. In particular, the only two members of Daniel’s family that are truly depicted in There Will Be Blood are his adoptive son HW and a guy posing as Henry, his half-brother. Daniel does treat the two as real family members, at least for a while, despite being a nasty man by nature. Daniel’s extended family was therefore not his biological family (not his blood).
After Daniel discovers his lie, his friendship with the phoney Henry comes to a violent conclusion. He pushes HW away and belittles him by saying that he is not his blood. We are unsure of the genesis of this, whether it was real or just an insult- and alcohol-fueled diatribe.
Given that the tale essentially begins with Eli’s brother Paul telling Daniel that there is oil on his family’s land for only $500, Daniel’s family is not the only one with a troubled past. Paul leaves his family and disappears, setting off a series of events that would bring to everyone’s downfall and his brother’s murder.
In the end, Daniel taunts Eli while tormenting and abusing him by mentioning a “large award” (which he inflated from $500 to $10,000) in an effort to further degrade him. Even though Daniel is probably making this stuff up as he goes, he tells about how Paul used this money to launch his own business.
Eli and Daniel both portray strong individuals. But when pressured by betrayals from inside their own family, they falter. Eli breaks down and begins to cry, and Daniel (who is interacting with his fictitious sibling) reacts violently.
The Benevolence Mask
The movie’s central subject of greed is as old as time itself: in order to get unfathomable wealth, one must forfeit his or her soul. There Will Be Blood, however, approaches the soul in a metaphysical sense, rarely viewing it via a religious lens. One can contend that Eli is a flawed tool that God employs to chastise and humble Daniel.
Both religion (represented by Eli) and greed (represented by Daniel) follow a misleading road that appears to be one of charity and community concern. Eli says he is the one watching over his flock and is the shepherd. In his first speech to the community, Daniel makes a number of unfulfilled promises, including the establishment of schools, the advancement of agriculture, and improved infrastructure.
Daniel’s desire to position himself as a family guy and his company as a family business is one of the reasons he decided to adopt HW. He tries to win over everyone he meets by mentioning that he is a widower raising his son alone.
Eli wants to be recognised as the “son of these hills who tended to his father’s sheep” during his speech at the first oil well’s opening. He wants to come out as both relevant and relatable in the neighbourhood with this dubious statement.
What was the aim of the film There Will Be Blood?
What ultimately transpires when an unstoppable force encounters an immovable object? It usually ends in a terrible catastrophe. When two incredibly flawed people like Daniel and Eli interact, the results are sure to be disastrous for everyone who finds themselves in their path. This holds true whether you view them as villains or as the personifications of the vices they stand for.
What did you think of There Will Be Blood’s storyline and climax? Please share your thoughts in the section below.
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