(QuickTime, FLV, WMV)

If ever there was a movie that was also a force of nature, There Will Be Blood would be that movie. To watch it is to slowly be surrounded by dark clouds and thrashing winds. To meet its characters is to come face to face with some of the most destructive elements of all creation. And to witness it take its course is to realize that greed and selfishness are just as dangerous as any other storm we could imagine.

At the center of its story is Daniel Plainview, a self-proclaimed oil man who is set on making it rich in oil. Upon first glance, Daniel could be a good businessman, a determined entrepreneur, and a driven worker. To the towns and families he meets with about oil discoveries, he presents himself as a family man, a community leader, and a philanthropist. But as his story unfolds, Daniel shows us that even though he is no stranger to hard work, everything he does he does for himself and himself alone.

“I have a competition in me,” says Daniel. “I want no one else to succeed.”

And unfortunately for Daniel and everyone he encounters, this greedy and selfish truth almost demands the destruction of everyone it touches. If Daniel could manage it, he wouldn’t have anything to do with anyone. But since he can’t, he just uses others for what he needs, gives people as little as he can to get what he wants, and does whatever needs to be done to keep anyone from getting what he has.

But as much as Daniel tries to keep people exactly where he wants them, they don’t always stay. His son is injured and loses his value as an effortless prop to promote Daniel’s family-friendly façade. Men who once only wanted to work for Daniel seek connections of friendship and brotherhood that Daniel has no intention of fulfilling. And in a world where there will always be more than just one entrepreneur, other men also seek success for themselves.

Meet Eli Sunday, pastor of the Church of the Third Revelation in Little Boston, California. If there were TV in the early 1900s, he would have been a televangelist. And although Eli is not an oil man, in Daniel’s eyes the teenaged preacher is just as much a rival and competitor as anyone else.

When Eli asks to bless the well in its opening ceremony, Daniel offers the blessing himself. When Eli invites Daniel and his workers to join his congregation, Daniel rejects the offer. When Eli demands that Daniel honor his promises, Daniel beats him up. And only when Daniel can find no way around it does he give Eli what he wants, and only then to be able to get what he needs.

But more than just two men in competition with each other, Eli and Daniel become almost intrinsic parts of each other’s intersecting lives. If Daniel is an oil man, Eli is a man of holy water. And as the story unfolds, the tale we see is not all that dissimilar from the meeting of oil and water.

Almost a character in and of itself, oil is all over There Will Be Blood. It may be seen as the key to riches and success, but every time it shows up it is black and sinister. Bubbling up from underground, it is as if it is coming up from hell. Its blackness contrasted with the clarity of Eli’s healing water almost stamps it as evil. One several occasions, oil catches fire and further cements its relationship with the evil and deadly fires of hell. And while Eli uses holy water to heal and cleanse people of sin through baptism, immersion in or a shower with oil almost always connects to death, injury, or a turn towards some sort of darker path.

Continue: 1 2