The Oil Man

Daniel Plainview is a man of few words. In fact throughout the first 10 minutes of the movie he utters no words whatsoever. We spend those minutes wondering "Who is this man? What does he want?"
In his own words he states,

"If you say I'm an oil man you will agree."

And that's exactly what he is.
This tough and bruised man has spent his whole life digging for black gold in the pits of the earth. Success is something he longs for...but it is not something he wishes for others.

"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people."

And indeed he does. He talks when he must and often will flare up at anyone who would dare question his motives or ideas. This almost calls into memory a British skin flint who wishing everyone death who has not worked as he has worked or lived as he has lived. Plainview is an angry man. For whatever reason his rage continues to boil under his skin. The world is his enemy who wishes him hell. His reply is making the world bow to him.

But even this gnarled old dragon has a soft spot. Children. Not long after we meet Plainview he adopts the son (named H.W.) of one of his dead employees. As he raises his son he shows a great deal of attentiveness to H.W. and his needs. But it is not just his son who brings his softer emotions to the surface. When Plainview discovers that H.W's playmate Mary was was beaten because she did not pray, the oil man buys her a dress and confronts her father. We are not told why he is softened children. At one point we witness him crying when he sees a picture of a child (perhaps himself) in his brother's journal.

His true enemy in this film is religion. More specifically a pastor and faith healer named Eli Sunday. After a cordial first meeting the two slowly begin to realize how much they dislike how each other lives. It comes to a head when (after being humiliated by Plainview) Eli forces the oil man to scream in church in front of the whole congregation "I have abandoned my child!" (referencing the point when Plainview sends his son to a school far away after H.W. is struck deaf from an oil accident)

Through all of this the anger stews in the pit of the oil man's stomach. But he will not release it yet. No...he will wait.

Years later Daniel Plainview has gotten what he wants. He is rich, fabulously so, and no troubles are in sight. But even through this long journey the oil man's anger has not abated. When his grown up son approaches him for his blessing in starting his own company Plainview sneers. "You're just a bastard from a basket." His competition has no boundaries. H.W. has grown and married his former playmate. He has become what the oil man hates.

Then, out of no where, Eli Sunday calls upon him in hopes that he would help him dig for oil on the land belonging to a now dead church member. Plainview agrees but only on the condition that he say multiple times "I am a false prophet and God is a myth."

The desperate Eli does so.

Then the oil man reveals that there is, in fact, no oil left there. He has drained it without the knowledge of anyone. Eli, in dire financial straits, appeases to Plainview's soft side, Plainview's son and the fact that they are now related by marriage.

It has been long enough. The oil man's anger must be released.

Minutes later Eli lies in his own blood. The oil man had finished him. Meanwhile, Plainview sits there with a look of relief and peace.

When the butler comes down to see what all the commotion is about, the oil man looks up and says

"I'm finished."

Indeed his is.