There Will Be Blood (2007)

Drama

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Writers: Paul Thomas Anderson, Upton Sinclair
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Martin Stringer, Matthew Braden Stringer, Jacob Stringer

"When ambition meets faith"

There Will Be Blood is a character-driven movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, known especially for Magnolia and Boogie Nights, and loosely based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair.

The story takes us in the turn-of-the-century California, between remote villages and huge expanses of land that promise silver, oil and wealth, while giving the viewer a comprehensive look at the early days of the oil industry with a strong historical presence.

The central conflict of the movie is between oil magnate Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who is an ambitious businessman and a greedy young preacher, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), who shares Plainview’s ambition for wealth but doesn’t want to get his hands dirty earning it.

Plot summary from IMDb: The intersecting life stories of Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday in early twentieth century California presents miner-turned-oilman Daniel Plainview, a driven man who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. He works hard but also takes advantage of those around him at their expense if need be. His business partner/son (H.W.) is, in reality, an "acquired" child whose true biological single-parent father (working on one of Daniel's rigs) died in a workplace accident. Daniel is deeply protective of H.W. if only for what H.W. brings to the partnership. Eli Sunday is one in a pair of twins whose family farm Daniel purchases for the major oil deposit located on it. Eli, a local preacher and a self-proclaimed faith healer, wants the money from the sale of the property to finance his own church. The lives of the two competitive men often clash as Daniel pumps oil off the property and tries to acquire all the surrounding land at bargain prices to be able to build a pipeline to the coast, and as Eli tries to build his own religious empire.

Awards: Won 2 Oscars. Another 114 wins & 94 nominations.
Runtime: 158 min
R