Summary
We see Daniel, H.W., and some men build a small house for the Plainviews. More time passes and the oil derrick is nearly complete. Congregants from Eli’s church come to the derrick and offer crosses sewn from cloth to the workers. Some of them accept and some refuse. Daniel watches from a distance with suspicion. Later, Eli goes to meet Daniel, asking to bless the derrick with a prayer before drilling begins. He instructs Daniel to follow a specific protocol before the blessing. Daniel agrees, setting the commencement for four o’clock.
The next day, the townspeople gather by the derrick for the beginning of drilling. Daniel takes H.W. and Mary to the front and gives a short speech about the strength of the community. He then blesses the well himself, using some of the same language Eli had recommended, but only describing Mary and snubbing Eli. H.W. then goes to the derrick and pulls the lever to start the machine under Fletcher’s supervision. The townspeople hold a picnic, where Daniel takes Mary aside. In clear earshot of Abel, Daniel declares that Abel will stop beating Mary or else face consequences.
That night, Daniel is sleeping on the floor in his house. Fletcher wakes him and tells him that a worker has died in the well. Daniel first asks if he knew the man, to which Fletcher says he did not. Daniel then asks how it happened, and we see the incident play out on screen. Two men lose their grip on a heavy metal instrument, which knocks a metal rod loose and causes it to fall onto a man in the well. Back in the house, Daniel expresses frustration. The workers fish the body out of the well and Daniel implores them to keep better track of who is in the well at any given time. He then instructs them to cease drilling until the next day. Daniel and Fletcher search through the man’s possessions the next day, including one of the crosses handed out by Eli’s congregants.
Daniel goes to meet Eli at the church and witnesses Eli attempting to exorcise demons from an old woman suffering from arthritis. It is an exuberant display, full of contortions and screaming on the part of Eli, all captured in a single shot. Daniel seems bemused by the performance, but he keeps himself in check. After the service, Daniel informs Eli of the worker’s death, asking Eli to speak at the funeral on account of the man’s religious faith. Eli agrees, but asserts that the death was due to the lack of strong morals and religious influence on the drilling project, including Daniel’s snub during the blessing. Eli alludes to heavy drinking by Daniel and the workers, an accusation which Daniel brushes off. Daniel notes the renovations being made to the church and compliments Eli on the “show” he put on during the service. Later, Eli oversees further construction while Daniel observes him from a distance with a spyglass.
Another day, H.W. lies on top of the derrick roof while drilling is going on. However, the equipment begins shaking violently and the workers run away as a massive jet of gas and water bursts to the surface. It hits H.W. directly, blasting him off the roof. Daniel runs toward the Derrick, yelling at the workers to put out all the lights. Fletcher runs to grab H.W. Soon a fountain of oil shoots from the well. Fletcher reaches H.W.; the camera cuts in closer to the boy but we can hear no sound during this shot, indicating that H.W, has been deafened. Fletcher and Daniel carry H.W. away from the derrick while oil continues to spray out. Daniel brings H.W. inside a small building and tries to talk to him, but H.W. cannot hear him. The oil jet catches on fire and Daniel runs out while H.W. screams for him not to leave. The workers knock down pegs holding ropes connected to the derrick.
The fire rages on into the evening and the night, a huge cloud of black smoke wafting away. The workers wait, apparently having done all they can. Fletcher and Daniel watch the derrick. Daniel asks Fletcher why he is so “miserable” since this event means there is definitely a huge deposit of oil beneath the ground. Eli watches from his own home as the derrick finally collapses on itself. Daniel yells joyously before Fletcher asks if H.W. is alright. Daniel matter-of-factly replies that he is not and then Fletcher goes to check on the boy.
The next day, the workers load dynamite into barrels and use the explosion to seal up the well and stop the still-raging fire. Later, Daniel holds H.W. while the boy makes strange noises. Daniel tries to talk to him to no avail. A doctor arrives to examine H.W.’s ears. H.W. writhes around in protest but Daniel and Fletcher hold him down.
We see other derricks operating normally and Daniel attempting to talk to H.W., still to no avail. Daniel asks Fletcher to call their contacts in San Francisco in the hopes of finding a teacher for H.W. to help with his deafness.
Eli approaches Daniel at the oil storage pit and demands the five thousand dollars he is owed. Daniel beats him and screams at him to use his alleged healing powers to restore H.W.’s hearing. Daniel rubs Eli’s face in mud and oil and continues to threaten him, eventually getting up and leaving him. Later we see the Sundays at dinner, Eli still dirty from before. Eli berates Abel for being swindled by Daniel, to which Abel responds that he trusted Daniel as an honest man and that there was nothing he could do about it. Eli continues to call Abel lazy and stupid and asserts that God will not save stupid people. Then Eli snaps and climbs over the table, beating Abel and continuing to berate him. Eli claims that Paul sold them out, counting on Abel’s naivety to make money.
Analysis
This section of the film begins to ramp up the conflict between Daniel’s capitalist doctrine and Eli’s religious one, while also highlighting the symbiotic nature of the two forces’ relationship to one another. Daniel feels threatened by the potency of Eli’s religious influence, not necessarily because of the religious content itself but rather because he recognizes how profoundly it can influence people. As such, he is very suspicious of Eli and reluctant to engage with him after successfully leasing the Sundays' land. He is even more disturbed when he discovers Eli’s congregants proselytizing his workers at the derrick.
But Daniel also realizes he can use the influence of religion to his advantage, hijacking the well blessing so that all aspects of authority on the project flow through him. He then intercedes in the Sunday family, as he threatens Abel into ceasing his religiously motivated beatings of Mary. It is, of course, laudable that Daniel would try to use his authority to prevent child abuse, but we get the sense that this action has far more to do with his desire to control the lives of the Sundays and their faith than any sense of altruism towards Mary.
However, events begin occurring that seem out of either his or Eli’s control, beginning with the accidental death of the worker and culminating in the well fire and H.W.’s deafening. In the aftermath of the snubbing of Eli and the improper blessing, these events take on a mystical quality, at least invoking Eli’s belief that such misfortunes are a form of divine punishment for the wickedness of Daniel and his men. Indeed, the worker dies in the well under eerily similar circumstances to those of H.W.’s biological father's death, and the image of a tower of fire rising from the earth certainly looks like the wrath of God made manifest. The land begins to feel cursed, the series of misfortunes not unlike the God-sent plagues of Egypt in the Book of Exodus alluded to in the film’s title. Daniel is not comfortable with situations he cannot completely control (recall earlier in the film when he left the townspeople at Signal Hill the moment he realized they could not be easily corralled into signing a lease). These events, particularly H.W.’s traumatic and sudden disabling, begin to erode his sense of control and thus his composure, leading to outbursts like the one against Eli near the oil pit.
Another important point to emphasize in this section is the idea of performance. Both Daniel and Eli, though on opposite ends of the film’s ideological spectrum, are natural performers. Daniel performs his speeches to the townspeople to create the image of the trustworthy and respectable businessman, while Eli performs the role of the flamboyant and powerful preacher. Daniel understands and respects this performance, complimenting Eli on a “hell of a show” after witnessing the supposed exorcism. The two also perform a kind of cordiality around each other and around people like Abel. Eli understands Daniel’s growing power, and the threat to him if he were to cross Daniel. However, this cordiality breaks down after the well fire. Eli senses a moment of weakness and demands the money he is owed. This leads Daniel to snap, completely dropping his cordiality and reverting to a kind of animalistic form. He hunches over and beats Eli, screaming incoherent threats and insults. Daniel is reduced to his most basic and primal self: a schoolyard bully.
