The film There Will Be Blood – the hidden meaning
There Will Be Blood is one of the “Oscar-winning films” that, after watching, make you think, look somewhere into the “jungle” of your own soul and consciousness, reflect on the meaning of life, your own purpose and answer the question: “Am I happy?” and “What do you really need to be happy?” It is sometimes eerie, exposing the ugly and ugly sides of human nature, a film about irresistible greed and gluttony, cynicism and misanthropy, all-consuming pride and vanity. This is a very powerful motion picture that is really fun to watch.
Directed by P.T. Anderson was spectacularly and vividly able to film the story of the super-ambitious oilman D. Plainview, obsessed with profit and money, who comes into conflict with the equally greedy and insatiable preacher Eli. Their struggle leads to the fact that inevitably “blood will be shed,” and, yes, this is exactly what the alternative title of this motion picture sounds like.
Why exactly There Will Be Blood?
The film There Will Be Blood by P.T. Anderson shot based on the novel of the same name by E. Sinclair. The whole picture is built around the fate of the main character – a desperate oil tycoon Daniel Plainview from California, whose success story begins with unsuccessful attempts to realize himself in life and earn good capital as a gold miner. In the process of working as a prospector, he injures his leg and decides to retrain as an oil producer, gathers a team of specialists in oil drilling and gradually, but confidently, begins to develop his extremely profitable business, offering his own services.
Things are going uphill, and one day he is visited by an unknown guy who is trying to sell information about promising plots of land for oil production. According to the stranger, in his hometown of Little Boston, there is a large oil field that cannot leave Plainview indifferent, and he and his adopted son set off to explore a highly promising area. He becomes a father unexpectedly, immediately after the death of one of his own workers, who has a baby. Plainview adopts the boy, on the one hand, this is an extremely noble act, on the other hand, the entrepreneur, having finally lost his humanity and humanity towards the end of his life, admits that this was done only for a “beautiful picture”.
Sample or multifaceted deformity of the soul
Plainview is a person from whom you can take an example of determination and determination, but at the same time, he evokes heavy sympathy throughout the viewing of the picture. The misanthrope and cynic Plainview lives his whole life in the desire to earn as much as he could provide complete isolation, because with all his gut he simply hates people. He hates his own son, everyone around him, and this is the true drama of his life.
All the changes by which he lives, which he longs for, alas, do not lead to his own rebirth, which he certainly needs. Working hard through life, not accepting defeat, achieving victories in all endeavors and tenaciously grabbing at any chance that could lead him to his only goal in life – profit, Plainview is finally transformed into a true misanthropist.
The real absurdity of this situation is that, with an obvious disgust for people, he desperately needs them. Struggling and walking “over the heads” towards his goal, he finally gets bogged down and drowns in his own “dirty pit” of vices that he possesses and so diligently hides, trying to appear better. Metaphorically imagining, the fountain of oil, which he is looking for and finds, does not raise Plainview to the heights of humanity and tolerance, does not add joy and satisfaction to him. Each oil well has a bottom, called the bottom, and it is to the bottom of life that the oil rivers of the protagonist lead. He transforms and remains to expose by himself all the filth and vileness of human existence.
Antipode or double?
In contrast to the oilman Plainview, another central character appears in the film – the preacher Eli, whose family owns an extremely promising plot of land. He does not share the consent of all its members to sell their own allotment, as a person tempted by the issue of enrichment no less than Plainview, Eli sets a condition according to which the oilman must pay 5 thousand dollars for the needs of his coming of the Third Revelation.
The preacher expects that the new owner of the land will regularly sponsor all church needs and support its activities. Plainview, concluding a purchase agreement, does not intend to share the account of the patron, he only thirsts for profit, earnings and an increase in his own capital. He considers Eli’s church and sermons to be obscurantism and does not believe in the divine gift that the preacher I. Sunday allegedly possesses.
A big conflict is brewing between the businessman and the preacher, this is preceded by a series of events: the refusal of Eli’s request to bless new wells, the subsequent death of the worker, the refusal to sponsor the construction of a new church, a major accident at the field, which leads to the deafness of Plainview’s son. The tycoon breaks down and publicly humiliates the preacher by dumping in oil and calling him a charlatan who cannot heal his son. He cynically sends his son, who interferes with building a business, to a school for the deaf.
Collision of almost twins
The struggle between D. Plainview and Eli is a confrontation between two greed, both disgusting and ugly in their manifestations. Two liars cannot come to terms with the existence of each other, the preacher does not hesitate to intervene God for the embodiment and fulfillment of his desires, the oilman rudely and energetically walks over their heads, not disdaining anything. Both characters yearn for their own domination and power, which they can obtain through the “oil” wealth.
Their struggle brings bloodshed, Plainview in the final scenes of the film first forces the preacher to admit that he is a lying prophet, after which he hammers the pins right in his own house. The sick and drunken mind of the oilman decides that this is the end of the whole patient, a way out of the hated situation. But his disease is not treatable, as is Eli’s. The “roots” of gluttony and self-interest have so grown in their souls and have already begun to emit a deadly poison that, having killed the preacher, Plainview finally kills a man in himself, having finished the last glass of booze, he “finishes” himself.
The brightest and most revealing of the whole essence of the main characters of the picture is the scene in the church, when, despite all the humiliation of the desire of the landlord, the magnate Plainview confesses his sins to the parishioners. Fanatic Preacher Eli takes on the role of leading Plainview to purification. He is a kind of guide between the oil tycoon and God. Of course, this whole performance looks true to the parishioners, but for both actors it is just another reason to assert themselves. These two heroes have nothing sacred, and each does not shun any opportunity that could lead to the coveted profit.
Blood of the earth
The musical accompaniment and the work of the operators cannot be ignored, the picture turned out to be quite dark, sometimes eerie, the music to the sounds of a brass band only adds to the truthfulness and immerses you in a genuine atmosphere that absorbs from the first minutes of viewing.
The final scene of the film is accompanied by Plainview’s phrase: “I’m done!” This is the end, the “death” of an ambitious oilman, a person who is completely mired in blood because of an all-consuming desire to swim in the “sea” of oil and wealth.
Oil, metaphorically called There Will Be Blood, appears in the picture as something ominous and monstrous. Its fountain, making its way from the well vent of the earth, as if with lava straight from hell, covers and absorbs people with its frightening darkness, engulfs their minds and leaves no hope of salvation.
