So you think Plainview was lying when he says that Paul was making money from oil drilling at the end? How is it that Eli wouldn't know? What did happen to Paul otherwise? For such a well put together film I think this was a bad loose end. Maybe I'm just being cynical in thinking that Daniel only said that to make Eli feel even worse about being a failure and a false prophet.
shareIf he was lying, how would that be a loose end? And if you don't know, how is it a loose end? Some things are meant to be ambiguous, or at least not overtly spelled out. Also, seeing how Paul is never seen throughout the film except for the beginning scene, he had already left and perhaps his whereabouts are unknown to the family.
shareI think back in that time period it was very easy for someone to leave home and not be seen or heard from again. Probably a common occurrence, it was a hard life and people had big families.
It is pretty clear that Daniel is lying, he is lying about giving Paul 10,000 dollars, he only gave him 500. So right off the bat he's making sh*t up to belittle Eli and that leads one to believe everything he's saying about Paul is bs. If he was telling the truth, he'd start with telling Eli the correct amount of money he gave Paul which would actually make Paul seem smarter if he took 500 and created a business out of it.
Good point. Thinking that the story is to stress or belittle Eli, I wonder if Daniel planned on killing him that night at that point in time.
shareMy question is how would Daniel know for certain that Eli wasn't in touch with his own twin brother for him to be able to put that story to Eli without him calling it out as rubbish?
Is it possible Daniel murdered Paul?