There Will Be Blood, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel by Upton Sinclair, 9 out of 10

There Will Be Blood, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel by Upton Sinclair

9 out of 10

A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

-              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E and   http://realini.blogspot.ro/

There will be blood is a stupendous chef d’oeuvre.

Alas, Daniel Day-Lewis, responsible in great part for this achievement, has just announced he is retiring…

The only actor to have won three Academy Awards for Best Performances in Leading Roles, being nominated two more times.

He also has two Golden Globes and another four nominations, four BAFTAs and two more nominations…

Daniel Day-Lewis has an astonishing 135 prizes and a brilliant, supernatural career behind him and all this:

-          Without Compromises!!

You have never seen him in stupid fare, destined to smash the box office or just to make audiences pay tickets.

His work is hard, thorough, without the usual immersion into the world of cartoon characters that all his peers engage in.

So in a way it is regrettable that he has decided to stop while he is a master, God of the game, but it is also…

-          Commendable!

Instead of joining the long line of actors that are happy with whatever comes their way- a script like The Intern- he is better off saying so long.

One of the Academy Awards won by Daniel Day-Lewis is for his magnificent acting in the role of Daniel Plainview.

The director and writer is the equally fabulous Paul Thomas Anderson, winner of 60 prizes and nominated for…6 Oscars.

He is the one who gave us Magnolia, Boogie Nights, The Master among others and of course this exceptional movie.

There Will Be Blood has an incredible 106 awards, including 2 Oscars and a Metascore of 92, which means that critics loved it.

Daniel Plainview is not just a hard, obsessive, humorless man; he is a killer and actually makes two victims.

Nevertheless, he is a complex character, for he is not just the “bad guy” pure and simple, there are other sides to this man.

He is hard working, an entrepreneur that knows no fear and will stop at no obstacle, for better or worse.

Sacrificing his private life, he is driven by his thirst for oil that he explores and then extracts with skill and in difficult circumstances.

Daniel Plainview could be a role model, in the sense that he may have found his calling and works without pause.

Only the dark, murderous side makes it so that he will step upon and eventually kill an adversary that tries to stop him.

Eli Sunday is a preacher, although I have doubts over his real calling for the “profession”, and an adversary.

Daniel Plainview and the preacher clash, with the former asking at one point for the “repentance” of the oil man.

As aforementioned, the obsessive-compulsive would stop at nothing to get his oil and therefore he acts as asked.

The plot has various sidelines and threads, as is the case of the supposed brother who comes to join Daniel Plainview.

There Will Be Blood is an extraordinary vehicle for a magnificent actor that dedicated himself to his art…

All the gratitude for his legacy!!