There Will Be Blood *possible spoilers*

[iwwobblie]

Is this worth seeing?I know it's based on an Upton Sinclair novel,who was a Socialist.Does it have an anti-capitalist message,is it a good film on it's own merits?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Is this worth seeing?I know it's based on an Upton Sinclair novel,who was a Socialist.Does it have an anti-capitalist message,is it a good film on it's own merits?

I liked it - it was pretty shocking and hard-core with no punches pulled as far as being anti-capitalist. Unfortunately, it is still a work by a Socialist as interpreted by liberals. This means that it does a great job, through Daniel Day Lewis's character, of showing how capitalism twists everything, is empty of any real morality or feeling and has to compete with everything constantly. However, it also means that the working class has been pushed to the sidelines in the story. In the book, the son of the Oil Barron is friends with a child-laborer: there is a strike by the workers including the child; the child grows up and becomes a socialist and then a Bolshevik after joining the army only to be sent the Russia by the US to fight against the Russian Revolution.

Consequentially, the movie feels lopsided and overly-pessimistic. But this is a reelection of how many in the US feel about the system. It's funny, it's acceptable in the US to hate capitalism and the rich, you're just not allowed to suggest that the working class could possibly do something about it. That's just too dangerous of a suggestion.

[RebelDog]

It's funny, it's acceptable in the US to hate capitalism and the rich, you're just not allowed to suggest that the working class could possibly do something about it. That's just too dangerous of a suggestion.

In my opinion its the same here in the UK. Most workers I've come in to contact with over the years hate the bosses and the capitalists, but most believe there is no alternative and dismiss the possibility of themselves (their own class) running the factories etc. This is probably the most fundamental falsehood that is preserved by the bourgeois hegemony of ideas. Workers themselves laugh at suggestions that promote the possibility that they could manage society and its always disheartening when one hears workers swallowing the bullshit that keeps them as slaves. A good evaluation of the possibility of proletarian revolution is when the mass of workers reject these ruling class ideas.

[oujiQualm]

I was disappointed. The movie was a beutifully hand made, blown- glass.

And it was empty.

Yes Lewis was great, but I was really disappointed. It seemed to be almost spitting at Lewis the way it elevated the personal narrative over the broader social context.

In many ways the movie is the exact opposite of socialist. Im not saying this because I believe that movies have to toe a strict political line or anything. I just felt the movie was beutiful, but proudly advertising its emptyness in an art for arts sake kind of way and I am just REALLY REALLY bored by that attitute.

[bluestar]

I liked it. I didn't love it. It is anti-capitalist but not obvious enough for the mainstream. During the screening, lots of people left the cinema. Afterwards, I overheard lots of people saying they didn't understand it, and didn't understand what "all the fuss" was about.

I think that says a great deal. The mainstream didn't get it. They saw nothing wrong with the main character except for his actions at the end. They reacted more to the ending because of the graphic display than because of the meaning of the actions. They seemed confused. I hope someone thought about it afterwards and realised something.

[bayano]

well, i just wanna input more of the same for the three similar perspectives of the people. above who saw it. good but abstract and theyre right to compare it to kubrick. but unfortunately more 2001 than spartacus. some sequences are almost comedic in the acting bravado. and the omission of class politics and socialism that were in the novel is the typical hollywood problem, sapping it of any hope or answers. and even tho a lot of right wingers attack it for being antichristian and anticapitalist, it isnt completely so. not looking at the symbolism, one could see lewis's character as a contrast with the other capitalists in the film. but a pretty film no doubt, and you wanna root for it just cuz it is well known as a critique of capitalism (although a stripped down one)

[arthurseaton]

I saw this film yesterday and was enormously moved. The performance was absolutely fantastic. Having had a quick glance at the book on which it was based, it does look like a loty of the socialist element was removed, there is next to nothing about the unions etc. Nontheless, the sheer corrupting nature of capitalism, not just upon the workers but on the capitalists too, is shiown very very powerfully indeed.

[YeOldeCommuniste]

I think it's an absolutely amazing film, but unfortunately I think the anti-capitalist message it tries to convey goes right over most viewers' heads, since it's rather subtle.

[Plagueround]

I liked it so much I helped my girlfriend write a paper on Daniel Plainview's capitalist greed and lack of human connection causing his downfall. The teacher thought it was a horror movie and gave her a B. :(

[al8]

I liked the movie and thought it suprisingly anti-capitalistic. But I had no idea that it was based on an Upton Sindclairs book and that the socialist elemenst where ommited. Though it's not suprising it's regretable.

[IcarusAngel]

I thought it was pretty good.

[Led Zeppelin]

It was indeed pretty good, probably one of the best new movies I've seen in a long time.

[Bastable]

I thought it was alright, not nearly as good as Oil!, but still better than most other movies around.