Note: This review was originally published February 4th, 2008

Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood is brilliant and brutal. Inspired by Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil!, it tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), one of the most successful oil men in California. Torn between his work and his adopted son, Plainview nurtures his business as the people he loves slip out of reach. This poignant story explores the prerequisites for success; the painful steps to systematic isolation; and ultimately, the dark underbelly of the human condition. Lies–to others and to oneself–plague Plainview and the minister of the Church of the Third Revelation, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), alike. The film will leave you broken: I sensed a fraction of myself in the fallen protagonist.

Daniel Day-Lewis is stunning. His remarkable performance is ridden with nuance and emotional subtext, so that even despicable actions do not distance the viewer from his multi-faceted character. Paul Dano successfully portrays what may very well be one of the most infuriating characters I have encountered in film. His harrowing interactions with Day-Lewis electrify the tension, a tension that stems from the male impulse to dominate. “I am a sinner!” Plainview proclaims, on his knees before the black-clad Sunday. “I have abandoned my son!” But the theatrical reverend gets his due, too, in the film’s devastating climax. From a production standpoint, Blood thrives: Robert Elswit’s cinematography sweeps the arid terrain, thrusting the viewer into the unforgiving world of the oil miner. The sets and costumes put flesh on the script’s bones. The editing is messy in spots, but it manages to hold together enough for the evocative sound design and haunting score to fill in the gaps.

I doubt whether Blood will grab the Academy’s Best Picture award. It is a merciless death-march from start to finish that puts it in a category to itself. Emotionally raw and tattered around the edges, Anderson’s character-epic likely will sink under the calculating perfection of the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men. Still, it is a visceral experience not to be missed.