First of all... I watched the whole film under the impression that HW was Daniel's son. Even if he didn't always display much of a paternal instinct (and honestly, would you expect him to?), and even with his little diatribe towards the end (I figured he was just so far gone as a person he just was lashing out at everyone at that point)... Biology aside, I do think that Daniel had a love for HW, that HW wasn't always strictly there for business. But HW's injury put a permanent rift in the relationship, and I felt it was sort of implied that they both just grew to fiercely resent each other over the following years.

Those that read the book, any idea what becomes of HW? He was the closest thing this story had to an 'innocent', but you can't help but wonder what will become of him as he decides to stay in the family business. Well, you know... oil drilling, anyway.

For some reason I saw Eli as the villain of the movie even though he was probably no worse than Daniel was. Anyone have the same experience? Maybe we expect our oil tycoons to be bastards, but it cuts a little deeper when the same behavior comes from our church leaders. Plus, corporate greed is a little easier for a 21st century audience to understand and relate to. That frontier old time religion is just sort of archaic and creepy. I like how Eli got his little slaps in during the Baptism. Yeah, Eli...THAT won't come back to bite you in the ass later on down the line.

Also: The Paul/Eli thing had me confused as hell at first. But if you actually sat through the whole movie and STILL thought they were the same person/split personalities, I just don't know what to tell you. "Whoosh?"

In the end, Daniel won. Wasn't much of a prize, though, but it's what he wanted.