10 Movie Scenes That Do So Much Without Actually Saying Anything
3. Daniel Drags Himself To Town - There Will Be Blood
The totally wordless opening 15 minutes of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood are basically a masterful short film unto themselves, presenting a fascinating backstory for ambitious, doomed-to-greed oil man Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis).
But the most telling part of this sequence is the first six-or-so minutes, where Daniel is seen prospecting for silver and gold in New Mexico all by himself.
He ends up breaking his leg after falling down a pit, but just as Daniel begins dragging himself across the craggy ground back towards civilisation, we cut to him having cashed in his claim at the assay office.
The clear implication, that Daniel dragged himself all the way to the office on his own, perfectly encapsulates Daniel's gritty resolve, that he relies only on himself and is doggedly determined to get the job done no matter the cost.
As the rest of the movie clarifies, this assessment is totally on the money.