"I can't stand to see anyone else succeed."
An American Tragedy written in oil and blood.
Brilliant acting ... chilling story ... based upon Upton Sinclair's ("Oil" - 1927) view of capitalism run amuck, without a soul and losing its mind in a heedless rush for profits at any cost, success at any price, personal, moral or otherwise ... it's not so much the dollar as it is the chase; not so much the success as it is the failure, the humiliation, of the competition.
Daniel Day-Lewis is incredible in his portrayal of "the oilman." At first, my sensibilities were in sympathy with him - just another hard working, hard striving man, widowed when his wife dies in childbirth, now caring for his infant son.
But with his success goes his degradation and the loss of whatever sympathy I might have had. A brilliant portrayal of man bent on success at any price, slowly revealing an utterly corrupt and contemptible spirit. What seemed to be even at the start wasn't necessarily so - in the end, he disowns his "son" whom he calls a "basket bastard" - an orphan he picked up to make himself appear as a family man, hence easier to acquire oil rights from from folks otherwise inclined to be suspicious.
Paul Dano, the young preacher, a twisted soul, greedy in his own right, on his own special road to perdition.
Both men, each intent on humiliating the other, willing to sell their souls to one another to further their own interests - the young preacher for his church and the oilman for pipeline rights.
The countryside is barren, and so are the souls of those who live therein - religious or not.
Along with capitalism, Sinclair tackles religion - various versions of the same fundamentalist claptrap - too often cruel and manipulative, and having been a pastor for forty years, I know the stories well.
Like a prophet of old, Sinclair shines a bright light on religion to reveal its shoddy makeup barely concealing a venal heart.
The movie begins without speech ... in a lonely place, an isolated silver mine, and Mr. Plainview chiseling away at the rock, nearly losing his life in a mine shaft fall, walking with a limp for the rest of his days - sort of like the biblical Jacob.
The movie ends in a lonely, isolated, place: a two-lane bowling alley in Mr. Plainview's California mansion, with Mr. Plainview striving to make it, having taken life all along the way - literally and emotionally - and now in a final horrific scene, he humiliates and destroys his "competition."
With blood on his hands, he ends the film with, "I'm done."
And so he is.
He can neither rise any higher nor sink any lower!
In all respects, a powerful film, superb script, awesome music ... the drama of America's quest for oil, the powerful and the weak - all put together in an epic film.
Hats off to Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films for this extraordinary film, a tour de force of capitalism's dark side.
