In an interview shortly after the release of "Magnolia," director Paul Thomas Anderson said that it was, for better or worse, the best film he was ever going to make. How wrong he was.
Daniel Day Lewis in one scene reveals that he only sees the worst in people and wants to remove himself from society to escape everyone at last. He has a son who he raises only to project an image of himself to investors as a family man. The son goes deaf and Daniel's long lost brother appears, so the son is abandoned in favor of the brother. The brother exits the picture, so Daniel reconciles with his son. It's all causal and all about money.
The other main character is preacher Eli. His faith, petulance and misplaced gall (among other things) render him a bigger piece of shit than Daniel, which is important. Eli is the reason our interest in the protagonist never wavers. Daniel is not so bad in comparison, so even if we don't root for him, we can't put him a box and detach from him emotionally either.
Daniel represents greed. Eli represents religion. Anderson attacks both, that much is obvious. But he also does so much more.
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