There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood 2007
Paul Thomas Anderson

There is no one called Daniel Day Lewis. He becomes the character. He is the character.

The rise and success of Daniel Plainview could be attributed to his shrewdness and opportunistic nature. He is Machiavellian, in the truest sense of the word. His scorn towards Eli. His twisted love for HW. His apathy towards people. And his killings (American Psycho much?)

He is an exhausted and under-worked over-thinker with too much time to indulge in his every whim. This goes to show that if Capitalism is given free rein, it will prosper. After significant prosperity, it will outcast and ostracise its own. Post that it will spew hatred and kill and then die. Pretty glim image - but that’s Capitalism for you.

Daniel’s character is made to be effortlessly identifiable with. For the most part of the movie, it is too. Once that is established, the more far reached side of the character is shown. Where the thoughts are let loose and there is no balance, there will be blood!