There Has been Much Blood

Supporting Evidence

Both austere and rich, "There Will Be Blood," PT Anderson's newest film, is complex. Complex like baseball: it is a simple game, but with a million permutations and outcomes. The characters which baseball produced are strictly American, the competition is stiff and the stakes are high. Nothing was different with the discovery of oil in the Southwest. There will be blood, indeed.
It was filmed in the hot and dusty Texas prairie. One can feel the warmth, yet there is an insidious sensation of suffocation. Daniel Day-Lewis fills the wide open spaces of the country side as Daniel Plainview with exacting presence: the actor knows what he is doing and the character he portrays has each move planned five steps ahead. "I have competition in me. I want no one else to succeed," he tells an estranged brother. It is no simple task he accomplishes in discovering his oil, yet he also has the gift for it-- and knows it. Not only are others ready to do anything to get a piece of his wealth and fame, they are ready to shame him for being so good. The battle becomes a tense chess match for the higher moral ground between the power crazed tycoon and a pious preacher-in-training. The outcome of their meeting exposes the heart of the matter. "TWBB" is a tale from American mythology revealing the sometimes savage acts of the people who are in our history books, and who ultimately made this country what it is.
I was anxious with expectation for most of the movie. Half of this was due to the chilling soundtrack by Johnny Greenwood, guitarist for Radiohead. If for nothing else, go and listen!

An interesting review:

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2007/1 2/26/blood/

And watch the trailer:

http://paramountvantage.com/blood/

Video Evidence

 

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