There Will Be Blood had a marvelous ending, but a majority of fans failed to understand the true meaning. So, in this article, I will explain the ending of the film. The movie is a 2007 drama directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is largely based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!”. It cast a veteran actor Daniel Day-Lewis for the role of Daniel Plainview. He bagged a huge number of awards for his role, such as Oscar, Golden Globe, and Screen Actor Guild award for the best actor. It was one of the top 10 films to be critically acclaimed in 2007. The film got nominated for eight Oscars in 2008 alongside another film from the same production house. Robert Elswit bagged the award for Best Cinematography in the same year.
The film showcases a silver miner who turns into an oilman on a merciless pursuit for fortune amid the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ in Southern California. The film won the Silver Bear Award for best direction at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. Despite a $25 million budget, the picture made $76.2 million worldwide.
Throwback to the past: Short Recap of the film
Let’s go back to 2007 or whenever you played “There Will be Blood” before getting to the ending. The movie begins with Eli, who has gone to Daniel to seek money. Eli’s sister Mary has married HW, so Eli is now officially a member of Daniel’s family. Eli believes there is oil beneath the Bandy land, which they can sell because Daniel never built an oil derrick there. Daniel agrees to appear to agree, but only if Eli acknowledges that he is a fake prophet and that God is a myth. Desperate for money, Eli, who has built his church on his capacity to connect with the Holy Spirit, gladly proclaims that he is a false prophet and that God is a superstition. Are we on track now? Well, if yes, let’s move on.
A snapshot from the movie
“I am the third revelation!” – Why did Daniel say it? Well, to support this, let’s have a closer look at the film. Both Daniel and Eli are rich, intriguing characters who are brought to life by their fantastic performers, but they are also symbols. Eli declares himself to be the third revelation earlier in the film. The first revelation is God’s commands to Moses, whereas the second reveals Jesus’ teachings to man. The third revelation is about any man who claims to be infused with God’s powers and teachings after being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is seen when Eli uses his “healing abilities” to “cure” an elderly woman of her arthritis.
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A Message: What the film had to say
Money is an incentive for both Daniel and Eli throughout the film, yet they carefully adhere to their different worldviews. The absurdity of the scenario is both Eli’s religion and Daniel’s corporation. Both have the same objectives and so regard each other’s presence as a danger. Daniel and Eli, the movie’s protagonists, pursue wealth and power through private enterprise, but one of the two forces must finally kill the other. Daniel’s control over natural resources and his style of capitalism trump Eli’s deceptive religious zeal during the last moments of There Will Be Blood.
There will be blood Ending Explained: What was it all about?
The dispute between Eli and Daniel isn’t just about two men who don’t get along because of their egos. It’s way more than that, and that is why it has led most of us to different conclusions. Paul Thomas Anderson, the writer-director, shot the setting of 1898, not because it was the commencement of the oil boom, but because the tale must begin in the nineteenth century. His idea was to portray the war during that time. Eli and Daniel are both capitalists, although Eli does so in the past under the pretense of religion. Daniel is a businessman who has essentially assumed God’s authority and rejected religion’s pomp and ceremony since he doesn’t require it. People will need oil more than religion in the twentieth century, and Daniel is the prophet of that movement.
A cute scene from the movie
There will be blood is about how cultural institutions have been absorbed as America goes from the 19th to the 20th centuries. Rather, the movie has its different meanings but mainly portrays how far a country can stand after the transition.
I hope this eases out the confusion that the fans had going on for these years.
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