Don’t be misled by the title. There’s a lot more oil than blood. An oil driller, Daniel, ruthlessly makes a fortune in the early years of the twentieth century in southern USA, while locking heads with an ambitious young preacher.
I understand the great reviews this film’s getting. It’s excellently made: such beautiful scenes and accomplished film-making. It has the confidence and feel of a truly great epic.
Yet it didn’t connect with me. I didn’t feel much for the characters, except perhaps the preacher, who I wanted to be good. I wanted him to show there’s hope and goodness in the world, but there isn’t in the world of this film. Or maybe a bit, in the form of Daniel’s adopted son and Mary, the girl who befriends him.
Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth 