After talking big about the movie There Will Be Blood I finally got the chance to see it last week. I knew going in that I was going to be sitting in the theater with my mouth slightly open and just staring for about three hours because there is just something about P.T. Anderson's films that clicks with me. I have now seen all of the Best Picture nominees [excluding Atonement...I will take Laura's word that it is pretty good but that it isn't really my kind of movie] and I believe that TWBB is the best of them.
One of the best thing about these types of movies in which the viewer has to fill in large segments of the movie with their own interpretation of the story [No Country For Old Men fills this bill as well] is that we come up with theories that may or may not even be important to the movie. I personally feel that that segment in the movie and "the whisper" is not important to the film. Here is the entire scene in question:
My take on the scene is that at 5:25 point, Daniel Day-Lewis starts to laugh after first being slapped. I've seen enough outtakes and bloopers reels to know one when I see one. Plus it does not feel right based on the emotion he showed only twenty seconds before. As the slapping continues this time from a shot from the congregation's perspective I swear you can see Day-Lewis' smile the whole time. The crowning achievement being at 5:46 when he says "Yes I do" to the question to "Do you accept Jesus to be your savior?" Laughter broke out in the theater I was in when he said that.
Now I might be wrong, but I believe that entire scene was done in one take with two cameras. I bet the rule going in was "finish the scene no matter what happens." In this take I believe a happy accident occurred in that Day-Lewis started laughing and it added to the intimidation and rage his character feels towards Paul Dano's preacher character. Although Day-Lewis is literally being beaten by Dano he still laughs as if the slaps are a joke. So when the baptism is over, and Day-Lewis knows that he as f-ed up the scene by nearly laughing, he went over and shock hands with Dano and said something to the effect "I really messed that one up." Anderson saw magic in the scene though and included it...
Jonny Greenwood -- Proven Lands
Jonny Greenwood -- There Will Be Blood
Both available on the There Will Be Blood soundtrack.
The use of "backslider" in the clip got be thinking of the Radiohead song "Backdrifts"...I wish "backslider" was still used as an insult today...
Radiohead -- Backdrifts
And no There Will Be Blood post would be complete without this:
