There Will Be Blood DVDThere Will Be Blood is a critically acclaimed story of a prospector turned oil man that chronicles his life while building up his oil empire.

This movie stars Daniel Day Lewis as the movie takes an unvarnished look at life as an oil man in the early 1900s.

What I Liked?

This movie definitely had its moments.  There are certain scenes in it that accurate display the pitfalls of working in the oil field at this time.  Beams fall on workers, fires are a significant risk.  In addition, the work is tough and dirty and will remind some of the life of miners.  These scenes were strong points of the movie.  In addition, the stretching and manipulation of the truth by the main character made this movie seem more authentic and gritty.  Based on my understanding of the times, the oil business was hard, often dirty business that had many characters who would fit this profile.  The references to Standard oil were also interesting as John D Rockefeller (Standard Oil’s boss) seemed to have a similar reputation.

Beyond this, I think a strong theme through the movie is to fight for what you earn.  This viewpoint is easy to follow thanks to the grim life of an oil man the film portrays.

What I Did Not Like?

This movie had elements in it that were just plain weird.  It reminded me of Stanley Kubrick films like Clockwork Orange, where strange seemed to rule the day.  At the heart of this was the antagonistic conflict between the main character and the young preacher of the local church.  The movie has them bang heads on a number of issues where it is clear the main character has nothing but contempt for organized religion.  In fact, the final scene of the movie centers on the main character forcing the preacher to admit he is a fraud and to show him how he was outsmarted.  This part of the story although seems fairly straight forward in the telling of it has a very peculiar effect on the movie.  It seems to serve little purpose except to possibly show the apparent conflict of business and religion.

With all this said, this movie has been well received.  I would definitely say it is an interesting movie to watch, but it does feel like it is incomplete like a puzzle that is missing some pieces.  I would give it a B or B+ although plenty others would give it a higher score.

If you would like to buy this movie, click on There Will Be Blood DVD.