In the spirit of bold Christianity and thinking conservatism, Jean Bethke Elshtain offers her comments on P. T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood. She praises the director and his leading man, the inimitable Daniel Day-Lewis, for their committment to depicting a dark, excessive, and complex character with honesty and insight.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2008/003/2.22.html

Do you agree that Daniel Planview (in his better moments) exhibits the qualities of "pagan virtue," like that described in The City of God?

For those interested in reading more on finding deeper meaning in contemporary films, check out God, Man, and Hollywood, ISI's book of the month.

Perhaps I have a cynical eye toward Hollywood but years of observing it's overt attacks on Christianity, capitalism, patriotism and general decency have conditioned me to cue on these types of messages in films.

What I took from the film was that Plainview represents "pure Capitalism." Of course this "pure Capitalism" is souless, ruthless, cruel, greedy, pitiless, hateful, vicious, dishonest, murderous and inflexible in the expression of such characteristics. In a word, Capitalism is represented as evil.

Can there be any mistake about the intention of Plainview's confession?:"There's a competition in me." Capitalism is competition. Competition is viewed as evil by Marxists and socialists.

It is not by accident that Plainview is engaged in the oil business. He is just the worst of the worst as the oil industry itself is a target. The oil industry today is supposed to embody all that is evil in our world: greed, excess, monopoly, polution and even a threat to the very life of the planet.

Sunday, of course, is the symbolic representative of Christianity. We are shown that Christianity is really no different than Capitalism and in fact the two work together as partners enabling each other to exist and succeed. We are to understand that Christianity is hollow, fake, exploitative, petty, controlling, hypocritical, dishonest and greedy. It lashes out at the weak and grovels for money.

What is the point of this movie? Well we know that film, as all art, is supposed to work on an emotional level. What is the emotional reaction of this film? Let's just ask this question:

Is anyone supposed to walk away from "There Will Be Blood" feeling good about Christianity, Capitalism, the oil industry or America? Are they supposed to feel good about anything? Or are they supposed to be so repulsed by what they have seen that they are conditioned to reject any connection to it and embrace anything that offers an alternative?