Consider the scene at the dinner table where Eli demands $5,000 for the church. There is a moment where Daniel says, “I see the nothing you are.” Eli fires back, “If you cannot say ‘I am a sinner,’ then you are nothing.” Without captions, the rapid back-and-forth can feel like a tennis match of noise. With subtitles, it reads like a stage play.
The first 15 minutes of There Will Be Blood have almost no dialogue. Just a man, a hole, and a broken leg. Subtitles here become minimal: (panting) , (rock clattering) , (oil bubbling) . there will be blood subtitles