Director Paul Thomas Anderson makes his presence felt in the first eleven minutes of There Will Be Blood—a long sequence with no dialogue. This completely wordless sequence is not a natural storytelling device for most writers, whether the medium in question is film, stage or novel. Writers like to write and screenwriters like to hear what they write spoken by famous actors. Anderson, though an adept visual filmmaker, was at this point best known for his verbose and busy screenplays. This silent opening sets the tone for the entire film, signaling a story that will be primal, deeper than the trappings of language and logic.
No other scene in the film leans so hard into the purely visual, but Anderson still weaves visual expression into the structure of the film. Passing time is marked by long, contemplative shots of men working set against the landscape, one shot slowly fading into the next. We see new structures rise from the ground, and a formerly decrepit town hums to life with new people and industry, all set against the unchanging and desolate landscape. The country changes, and the fortunes of men rise and fall, while the land remains static and uncaring.
The idea to adapt Oil! came to Anderson by way of journalist and author Eric Schlosser. Schlosser had wanted to adapt the novel into a screenplay himself, but after speaking with Anderson (who came on board after struggling to finish another screenplay) he was impressed with Anderson’s take and ceded the adaptation rights which he had previously acquired. Schlosser remained a co-executive producer on the film. Anderson’s interpretation is narrower, less overtly political, and much more primal. Sinclair concerns himself with capturing the myriad aspects of a moment in history, from the political and economic corruption of the 1922 Teapot Dome scandal to the upheaval caused by socialist revolutions in Europe. Anderson’s approach is to capture certain constants in American history, from the relentless insurgency of capitalism to the stubborn influence of religion.
The film is by turns moody and esoteric, before suddenly coming down to earth in shocking moments of intensity and violence. In that way, it is of a piece with Anderson’s other studies of American life, from Boogie Nights to Inherent Vice.
