Monday, May 19, 2008
ANOTHER THING
When I reviewed There Will Be Blood yesterday, I didn't mention one of the main themes from the picture.
Alcoholism.
It is clear from the beginning that Daniel Plainview is an alkie. Someone knew what they were doing in depicting it.
The boozing is progressive as is the mental and physical disease. We see it happen.
Daniel Day-Lewis also shows us the continuing loss of spirit and spiritual values. The worst of the ravages.
He may be a dishonest reprobate in the beginning but his spirit is vivid. He endures. He thrives.
By the end, he is dead inside. He has lost all his vitality. He has disappeared inside the bottle.
I just mention this while the disease of alcoholism is often portrayed in film, it is seldom that such an accurate portrayal is given throughout over the entire duration of the story.
Slow and insidious.
The last line is apt. "I am finished".
