Digg ThisMy bride and I saw “There Will Be Blood” tonight, a 2-hour and 40-minute adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s “OIL!” from the late 1920s, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the son of local TV and radio legend Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson.
I’ve seen most of Anderson’s movies, and I’ve liked them all — for varying reasons each.
I liked “There Will Be Blood”; it’s probably Anderson’s best work yet.
I liked it because it is a period piece from the early 20th century, which is one of my favorite periods in American history. I have to say, in all honesty, that: a) I was unaware of this movie, and my bride put this movie on the “must-see” list every year (she always creates this list right before the Oscars — which I enjoy immensely); and 2) I was totally unaware that this movie was based (loosely) on Sinclair’s “OIL!”
Seriously.
About a third of the way through the movie, however, the story began to ring familiar. It was at the end, when I read the credits, that the bells went off. I read the book in high school as an extra-credit issue for an advanced-placement English Lit class. So, yes, it wasn’t a total take on “OIL!,” but it had enough of the story in it that I could tell that this was no ordinary screenplay.
It’s timing could not be better: with Exxon Mobil raking in totally obscene, record profits (subsidized by you, Dear Constant Reader — that is, if you’re a tax-paying US citizen), and the recent growth of conflicting religious dogma entering American politics, Anderson’s play between the charlatanism of the oil industry played against the charlatanism of born-again religion couldn’t possibly be better timed.
You see the greed and avarice of the oil industry on one extreme pitted against the greed and dishonesty of people who want to lead the sheep (in this case, people who are willing to believe almost anything to help them accept their own poverty, be it financial, spiritual, emotional, or intellectual) on the other. You see how one side sees through the facade of the other, and how they try to exploit each other through this, with the public — and their money — as the ultimate prize.
The Truth, as it should be, should lie somewhere in between: the evangelicals are charlatans from the word “go!,” and you can’t trust the oil companies to do anything but dig ever deeper into your pocketbook to make their own lives easier — which are two of the major causes of this year’s political senseless, pointless, and exasperating sturm und drang. Let’s face facts: neither Clinton nor Obama, McCain nor Romney, plan to do anything about the oil companies raping the American public, or turning America “green” — nothing (don’t get me started on health care or health insurance!).
Nothing, I tell you: it’s all a bunch of crap to get them in office and nothing more. None of them offer any real hope or promise to the American public. I’m not a big fan of CNN’s Lou Dobbs, as I think he is merely a big, whiny mouth, but I can see more clearly now that he does have one thing right: there is a war on the American Middle Class — and none of our government representatives are doing a damned thing about it — nor will they.
I’m not against a company making a fair profit on their goods and services — that’s what America is all about. But, by the same token, we’re also about fair play, honesty, and The Golden Rule.
And nobody in politics, the oil industry, or the right-wing evangelical movement honor any of that: they only want their fair share — of your checkbook. (See the movie — it’s important.)
