Holiday for Misanthropy

Just in time for the holiday season, when many people are tossing around the old "Peace on earth, good will toward men" chestnut, comes not one but two cinematic misanthropes to put coal in your stocking and to lay waste to tidings of comfort and joy. Both Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd and Paul Thomas Anderson's (yes) masterpiece There Will Be Blood are built around protagonists who harbor an unquestionable disdain for their fellow man. These are no lightweight run-of-the-mill haters, but rather echt misanthropes that would make Vonnegut, Kafka, or Jean-Paul Sartre proud. For Sweeney Todd and Daniel Plainview, hell truly is other people. Originally seeking vengeance only on those who wronged him, Sondheim's demon barber of Fleet Street who speaks of "a hole in the world like a great black pit / and it's filled with people who are filled with shit," soon becomes convinced that all relationships are carnivorous in nature, and that death to everybody is the only solution. There will be blood, indeed. In There Will Be Blood, oil tycoon Daniel Plainview doesn't necessarily wish to kill his fellow man, he just wants nothing to do with him. "I hate most people. There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I've built up my hatreds over the years little by little. I see the worst in people." What drives him forward is a dream of becoming wealthy enough to get away from everyone – to essentially buy his isolation. (I'll have much more to say about the film later in the week.) Though we've seen other dark films released around Christmas in recent years (eg. Caché, Children of Men), I can't recall a single film (let alone two) that has at its core an irascible spleen-venter with a genuine hatred of mankind as Todd or Plainview. That both films are outstanding (There Will be Blood is the film of the year) puts a huge smile on this part-time misanthrope's face. I drink your milkshake!

Comments

[blackmailismylife]

I have had this sentiment in my head since I started thinking about meeting all the people I never see throughout the year. Hopefully I can convince family to see Sweeney Todd on Xmas!

[Steve]

It's rare that I read something and feel like I'm looking in a mirror. I am looking forward to Blood for many reasons, but mostly because there has yet to be a PTA film I haven't loved. And had it not been for your and a few others' comments on Sweeney Todd, I would have written it off as another miserable musical experience.

[Filmbrain]

Steve --

I hear you man.

I have to admit that after Punch Drunk Love, which I think is a bit of failure (though an interesting one), I wasn't sure how PTA would do with a period piece. I should never have doubted him.

As for Sweeney Todd, though I'll confess to having a soft spot for musicals, I truly believe this is the greatest big-budget musical in decades.

[Alf]

The only film I could think of for film of the year is "There Will Be Blood". It made me feel uncomfortable, in a good way, if that's possible. This is PTA's version of horror film and he manages to bring a different monster out of Daniel Day-Lewis.

[colinr]

But Filmbrain, Boogie Nights was a period piece and look at how well that turned out!

I had stupidly almost written PTA off after not being that impressed by Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love, but everything I hear about There Will Be Blood is making me more and more desperate to see it. (I am also amazed, not being a particularly big Western fan, to have seen or have gotten excited about seeing so many Westerns in the last few years, from the Assassination of Jesse James to The Proposition!)

I also agree that it seems as if PTA read my thoughts and put all my bile against humanity into Daniel-Day Lewis's character!