5. Violin Concerto In D Major (Movement III) - There Will Be Blood (2007)
Proving that music doesn't have to be contemporary to be effective is Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major which accompanies the end credits of Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. The film, loosely based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, tells the story of Daniel Plainview (played mesmerizingly by Daniel Day-Lewis), a turn-of-the-century oil entrepreneur who is singularly focused on one thing: success. Anything else in his life, particularly people, take a back seat to his goal of striking oil and becoming more powerful and successful than anyone could ever imagine.There Will Be Blood is one of the most unceasingly bleak and cynical films you will ever watch, and this is particularly true in the film's final scene. As Daniel Day-Lewis' Plainview and Paul Dano's Eli Sunday argue back and forth to the bitter end, the audience is more or less stunned into submission. Then, as the stupefied audience tries to collect its thoughts, they're treated to the playfully teasing sounds of Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major. It's a one-two cinematic punch that is hard to match. What is especially brilliant about its use is not only the fact the main violin motif is incredibly spry and nimble, creating a cognitive dissonance that could give you a headache, but it is playful in such a grandiose style that you can almost see Paul Thomas Anderson winking at you behind the credits. It's not easy to achieve so much just through the use of some classical music, but it works wonders here.