Movie Reviews

“If it doesn’t come out of a book, I don’t know anything about anything.”

Parents Leslie and Ben had decided to live completely off the grid and dedicate their lives to raising their children, and living without the pollution of American capitalism and indoctrination. After Leslie’s death, Ben and their six children struggle with navigating modern society as they travel to attend her funeral. At first, their lifestyle seems almost ideal, tramping about the forest singing, hunting, and reading with no interference from “the man”. The children are academic geniuses and enjoy having debates and discussions on college-level topics. They are expected to think critically of the world around them and to always question authority. However, it becomes apparent throughout the film that some of them hold resentment towards their parents, namely their father, for limiting their exposure to the outside world. As much as they would benefit from this lifestyle and had fun growing up, they long to be “normal”. Ben’s children are incredibly intelligent and resourceful, but they lack any and all social skills, and this is painstakingly apparent throughout their many interactions with people they meet along the way. Their extended family wants them to move out of the woods, and have the children enrolled in a “real school”. However, they meet resistance from Ben, who fears being proven wrong about the way he is raising his kids.

What I love about this movie is that it doesn’t pit parenting styles against each other, being homeschooled vs traditional education. There are upsides to both and, ultimately, the movie encourages a mixture of the two. This movie is as much a criticism of American mediocrity as it is a criticism of the complete rejection of society.

-Written by Lizzie Keeling

“I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed.”

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will be Blood is a thrilling drama set in California during the 19th century, as oil is beginning to become valuable. Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, is an opportunistic man who creates one of the first oil companies.

Plainview considers himself a family man, and treats his son as his business partner. He has no other family, and no love interest. He is notified of a town with oil right beneath the surface by a man named Paul, and finds an unexpected roadblock in what he thought would be an easy opportunity for land; Paul’s brother, Eli Sunday, is played by Paul Dano. Eli and Daniel have a fraught rivalry. Daniel is fueled by his desire for money, and does not mind lying and manipulating to obtain it. Eli Sunday is an eccentric priest who wants a good reputation and more respect than he deserves. They bring out the worst in each other. They first meet at Eli Sunday’s parents' home, where Daniel attempts to scam them into selling their land for significantly less than it’s worth since they are unaware of the oil underground. But Eli catches on right away. They are in a constant battle for authority, which gets more bloody and vicious as the years go by.

This movie is more about conveying an idea or message than telling a story about an individual. And the message behind this movie is more of a warning, an expression of disgust with American capitalism and a bleak examination of human nature, a study of evil and evil’s origin. Much like reality, it is slow, and the bad is much easier to find in these deeply flawed characters than the good. But the good is there. It wouldn't be a good movie about evil if it just portrayed evil as innate. Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday are villains in their own respects.

-Written by Jesse Campbell