Among the multiple lines of critical and cultural discourse surrounding the film, however, one particularly stands out: the notion of There Will Be Blood — with its central conflict between
cutthroat oil prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day - Lewis) and zealous small - town preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) in 1911 California — as a kind of demonic origin tale for the state of contemporary American
political culture, with narrow - minded religious fervor and bald - faced capitalistic excesses forming two
sides of the same tarnished coin.