I recent watched two critically acclaimed movies that I’ve anticipated for the last couple months. They both revolve around similar themes and end in unconventional ways (Don’t worry I won’t spoil them). For this entry I’ll just be looking at There Will Be Blood.
There Will Be Blood was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. I’ve loved his earlier works Boogie Nights and Punch Drunk Love. There Will Be Blood follows a similar vein from his previous work. His movies generally explore the various disillusionments of life. P.T. Anderson loves to subvert conventional narrative themes; There Will Be Blood is much of the same. It’s from one perspective about the classic American tale of religion and capitalism. It’s a sticky story about how they often clash, intermingle and ultimately reflect each other. The young “pastor” Elie is fittingly named as he’s all lies. He masquerades his greed by posing as a spirit-inspired prophet. Anderson is unabashedly critiquing the hypocrisy of spirituality that is often more carnal than spiritual.
Daniel Day Lewis plays a character named “Daniel Planeview.” He’s also fittingly named as his greed can be plainly seen. He reflects and contrasts Elie. He shares with Elie a greed and egocentric spirit. But where Elie masks his greed, Daniel wears it on his sleeve. In one sense Daniel is the more ethical of the two as he never seeks to portray himself as someone else. But the two are inextricably bound throughout the movie and will find similary destinies. Together they give us an ugly revised history of the great American pursuit.
There Will Be Blood is the kind of movie that critics love and audiences find disappointing. As with many of P.T. Anderson’s movies, there isn’t any redemption or satisfying resolution. Anderson’s movies portray the postmodern mindset that is uncomfortable with any neat endings. It revises history to include the dark underbelly of the greed within capitlaism and the hypocrisy of spirituality.
One of the problems with the movie is that it is without nuances. Both protagonists have no good qualities. Rarely will you find real people without any glimpse of sincerity. Surely there is some grace within evil and some semblance of evil within those found in grace. Anderson does understand the postmodern dilemma of seeing through the hypocrisy of spirituality and the evil of capitalism but he ultimately has no answer for it. We are left with sin exposed but not with sin redeemed.
Although the movie does disappoint on some levels it comes with some wonderful performances and some thoughtful analysis of the role of the dark sides of religion and capitalism in America.
Filed under: Movies
