President Theodore Roosevelt seemed to be more shocked by the details of how cattle and hogs were being sliced into beef and pork--and by how much condemned meat was ending up on American dinner tables--than by the workers' plight. Within a matter of months, Sinclair's book sparked legislation regulating the meat industry for the first time.

“I aimed for the public's heart, ... and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”

Flames erupt from the derrick, oil fueling the rage, night setting against the orange, Daniel Plainview, covered in black gold and dirt exclaims, “There’s a whole ocean of oil under us. And I’m the only one who can get at it.” His son, H.W., is fidgeting in the background because the explosion ruptured his eardrums. Plainview waits until morning, after the fire has been blown out, to greet his son with a smile. Both have dug their way into a wealth only a motivated capitalist manifests.

There Will Be Blood’s, Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2008 winter opus, only flaw is the over-use of deafening music to help build suspense. At times the loud violins made me wince, but during a second viewing of the film, the theater turned down the volume and the sound wasn’t as overwhelming. Anderson’s other movies rely heavily on their sound. In Punch Drunk Love it heightens the tension, in Magnolia it sullen the mood, and Boogie Nights it adds authenticity to the story. In There Will Be Blood, it makes under-dramatic moments feel like a soap opera. The rest of the movie was perfect. Now I must confess, I had been waiting a year for this movie to come out. I am a fan of Anderson (the director and writer), Day-Lewis (the lead actor), and Upton Sinclair (the movie is based off of his novel, Oil!). All three are serious and provocative artists.

The movie portrays the life of an oilman in his search to dig up a way out of society. Plainview is a private business owner that starts out by mining for gold, and gradually evolves into a tycoon. By the end of the movie, he is what he wanted to become, rich and excluded from the population, a social elite hermit. During a majority of the film, he is a get-your-hands-dirty business owner.

The story unfolds as Paul Sunday comes to Plainview with a business proposition. Paul knows where oil is, and the father son company travels to the Sunday’s southern California ranch. The land is just a plot of rocks, sand, and weeds. Before he begins digging, he has to strike a deal with the prophet-healer-preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Plainview then preys on the town’s economic status to leverage the town’s property. He proclaims that life will be good for them if they drill for oil.

Plainview’s thirst for a hermit salvation rips into an odd theme for a contemporary American filmmaker. As Plainview’s and Sunday’s businesses grow (Sunday’s being his church), both enterprises begin clashing. Each man undermines the other. Plainview drags Sunday through mud oozing with oil, and Sunday makes Plainview beg for eternal redemption in front of those Plainview has preyed on. Both men are baptized, one in industry and the other with superstitions. P.T. Anderson does a great job showing, at the individual level, the war between church and capitalism.

In the last scene, Plainview gets his revenge on Sunday for the redemption in the “church”. Sunday awakens Plainview from his drunken sleep. Both are in Plainview’s two lane home bowling alley. Sunday is there to speak to his friend, which is the second time Plainview has been referred to as anyone’s companion, the other being the “brother” he killed in an earlier scene, about money. Sunday hides his motivation by boasting how well his financial endeavors have been, while he hovers of Plainview to give Sunday a holy presence. Sunday then sits, and Lewis stands when Sunday begins begging for money. Sunday needs the collection money for the Bandy property that has just become for sale. Plainview says he will pay the finder’s fee if Sunday says that he is a false profit and that God does not exist. After a shot of liquor, Sunday does what he is commanded and Plainview makes him shout it as if he were in front of his masses. The scene escalates, and Plainview begins throwing objects at his “old friend” after Sunday erupts about being told his twin brother was the intelligent one. As Sunday runs away from Plainview, Plainview smashes Sunday over the head with a bowling pin and then hovers over his body. Plainview then explodes in a furry of pummels, and afterward he smiles as the butler walks in. Plainview has the same face as if he were drilling for oil.

America seems to have It’s a Wonderful Life syndrome this year. There Will Be Blood is the last in a string of movies in which the plot takes place in the past, which include Sweeney Todd, Charlie Wilson’s War, 3:10 to Yuma, Atonement, Beowulf, I’m Not There, No Country For Old Men, Walk Hard, Pirates of the Caribbean, 300, Hairspray, and American Gangster. With a presidential election coming soon and with candidates like Barack Obama claiming they will bring change, it makes sense that to push forward we must look back. Other points in our history have also been like this. When Clinton became president in 1993, Shindler’s List won the Oscar for best picture. During our last presidential election The Passion of Christ, Troy, and The Aviator were in theaters. I predict that we are going to see a slew of movies in the upcoming year where America’s past is an integral part of the plot.

I think America’s infatuation with the past also goes hand in hand with our love for the western. Now There Will Be Blood isn’t a western in any sense, but it does share some of the same themes. An unknown man (Plainview) walks into a dirty, poor, town and changes everything. Plainview does whatever it takes, including adopting a dead associate’s son, to get his money. There’s murder, booze, oil, cash, and the America west. The amazing thing about the movie, like Brokeback Mountain and No Country For Old Men, is that it takes a common genre and themes, and then twists them. Its like these directors are reshaping how with think of a western.

The most significant aspect of the film is how much it matters that it came out this year. Oil is the name of the game now. We are in Iraq to liberate that Texas Tea, Iran is probably next, and what after that. There Will Be Blood gives us, Americans, a clear picture of how the oil industry started. It represents the spirit of the men that are digging for oil right now. Hopefully, There Will Be Blood will do what Sinclair’s The Jungle did and spark a social change where we reevaluate why we turn the other cheek to these greedy oil companies.