The Claim

Plot synopsis:
Daniel Dillon is an Irish immigrant who settled in the high mountains of California during the Gold Rush of 1849. It is now 1867, and we see that Dillon has a vault filled with gold and a town of his own, named Kingdom Come. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town; if someone digs for gold, rents a hotel room, opens a bank account, or commits a crime, they will have to deal with Dillon.
One of the few profitable enterprises in town that Dillon does not own is the saloon/brothel, which is operated by Lucia, his Portuguese lover.
Donald Dalglish is a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad, which wants to put a train either through Kingdom Come, or somewhere in the vicinity. He is here to decide the route. Dillon is anxious to ensure that the railway line is routed through "his" town, as this will bring more business.
Among the travelers who arrive in town with Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena Burn and her lovely teenage daughter Hope. The presence of these women is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come for nearly twenty years. Dillon had come to these mountains with his Polish wife Elena and their months-old baby, Hope. On a cold and snowy night they happen upon a shack named Kingdom Come, owned by a disillusioned '49er named Burn. Like Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge, Dillon sells Elena and Hope to the prospector in exchange for the small gold claim that would later flourish and make Dillon so wealthy. Burn has died, and Elena has come to find Dillon because Burn left her with nothing, she is dying, and she wants Dillon to give her $200 per year so that she can "do right by Hope".
Dillon tells Lucia that they have to end their relationship and gives her some gold bricks and the deeds to her home, the saloon/brothel, and the tobacco house. Lucia is heartbroken, wanting Dillon and not his money. Dillon tells Elena that he never married anyone else because he was always married to her. The two renew their marriage but their time together is short, filled with Dillon's efforts to find a cure for her illness and ending with her death.
Elena's death coincides with the decision to route the railway some distance from the town for easier passage and construction. Lucia moves the girls, the booze and the tobacco house to the valley, effectively moving the entire population of Kingdom Come to her new town of Lisboa, named for her father's home in Portugal, to be near the railroad. Following Elena's funeral, Hope tells Dillon that she is leaving to find Dalglish and start a life with him. Dillon takes her up to the original shack Kingdom Come, showing her a picture of their family when she was a baby, and revealing the deal made right on that spot between him and Burn. Hope leaves him and goes to the new Lisboa.
Dillon is thus faced with the loss of both Elena and Hope, and his town. He sets fire to all the buildings in Kingdom Come. The smoke attracts the people of Lisboa, who find Dillon's frozen body in the snow near his original shack. Lucia is devastated, crying over the frozen body as it is brought back to the ruins of Kingdom Come. While many of the 'former' townspeople rush to find Dillon's stockpile of gold in the burned out vault, Hope and Dalglish choose instead to follow Dillon's body as Lucia and others continue with it down the mountain.

Tags: flashback

Review:
Frank Cottrell Boyce completely changes Thomas Hardy's classic The Mayor of Casterbridge - and actually betters it lifting it from its original setting and tailoring it into a tale of the American West during the Gold Rush.
Some have complained that Boyce went too far - but this is a movie "based" on the book not claiming to be a faithful retelling.Director Michael Winterbottom proves to have an enormous eye emerging in bold style at once stylized and natural.
One fateful day three groups of people arrive into town:  some railroad surveyors who offer the possibility that a train may soon be passing through the town, bringing with it people, wealth and prosperity; some prostitutes who plan to open up shop in this all-male community; and a sickly woman and her beautiful young daughter, who, it turns out, are the wife and daughter that Dillon sold for a bag of gold in his desperate youth  a decision he has lived to rue ever since.Given this multi-character canvas, writer Frank Cottrell Boyce and director Michael Winterbottom take an almost painterly approach, allowing the drama to unfold at an unhurried pace, so that they can concentrate on the bleak snowy winter setting which ends up playing as great a role in the drama as the characters themselves.
Wes Bentley as the chief railroad surveyor, Nastassja Kinski as Dillon's ailing wife, Sarah Polley as their daughter and Milla Jovovich as Dillon's devoted mistress all turn in outstanding performances.
Actually, for once Nyman's music isn't that bad.)  You have to admire the skill, and the art direction, like the choice of location, is beyond praise, but there's NO REASON AT ALL to make as peer at every single scene through a telescope, except perhaps that it's a shortcut (far too easy a shortcut) to stylistic unity.It's surprising, towards the end, after all the cold, barely focused and rather absent storytelling, to find that the film packs a punch, after all.
It is apparently based on a novel by Thomas Hardy, but I cannot attest to the faithfulness of this film to the novel except to say that it undoubtedly had a change of setting.Daniel Dillon is  the ruler of Kingdom Come, a small mining town high in the California Sierras.
Twenty years before, Dillon committed an unspeakable act to gain his fortune and has been marking time ever since.When two mysterious women, an older woman and her twenty-year old daughter, arrive in Kingdom Come with a railroad survey party, the sins of the past come back to affect everyone in the town.
I agree with earlier comments that there are similarities to HEAVEN'S GATE (I was one of three people in the country who thought HG was pretty good; my wife was another), and MCCABE AND MRS MILLER.I also agree with those who said the plot and flashbacks are a little confusing, tho maybe this is only because I wasn't attentive enough.
At the same time, the woman he traded in exchange for the claim to the land all those years ago, Elena, returns with her daughter Hope to ask for money from Dillon.Director Winterbottom is almost enough to draw me to watch a film, while the great potential in the cast brought me the rest of the way.
Also the fact that everything is quite polite and restrained doesn't quite fit with what I expect from a small frontier town based around mining and prostitution.Likewise the characters were too mellow for the majority of the film - certainly Dillon does not seem like a man who has that in his past, he isn't anywhere near as complex as he should have been.
Polley and Bentley are both very able actors but neither manage to convince; they are OK but their characters are not allowed to go where they needed to.The story is interesting and, after seeing this, I will now try and read the original material it came from as I can see the potential that was quite missed by this version of it.
But now the past is about to catch up with him and Kingdom Come could well turn out to be his burning hell...Right off the bat it has to be said that The Claim is a difficult film to recommend, even to Western movie lovers.
Interior sequences are filmed in low lights, making the lamps spectral in sight, the costume design and the narrative strength of the town whorehouse (which is the fulcrum of proceedings) have a class about them that shines bright in the pantheon of modern era produced Westerns, while Michael Nyman's musical score is evocatively strong.The cast respond well to Winterbottom's requirements, Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley, Milla Jovovich and Nastassja Kinski (how nice to see the latter twin euro beauties stripped of make up to show a natural era sexiness) all turn in charismatic and heartfelt performances.
In the interim we are privy to the lives and loves of the townsfolk, their foibles, faults and fancies, this while the town is alive with the arrival of the railroad company, who it is hoped by Dillon will make Kingdom Come prosper still further...Unfair comparisons have been drawn with Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller.
This is a rare British attempt at a Western, albeit an uncharacteristic one about a small mining town clashing with the oncoming railroad: it's reasonably well served by the stark cinematography, Michael Nyman's dramatic underscoring and a surprisingly able cast (the most impressive being Peter Mullan as the town leader with a secret past and Milla Jovovich as the chanteuse who has hooked up with him).Given the director, the film strives for absolute realism (down to the varying accents of the multi-national townspeople and the kind of entertainment provided in the dingy saloon); this, coupled with its relentless solemnity and a plot which isn't as engaging as it should be - actually containing a good deal of padding, particularly its baffling emphasis on the blossoming romance between a prospector and a prostitute - results in a rather uneasy film, one that's not remembered with affection!
However, the tragic finale - with Mullan's dreams literally going up in flames - is effectively handled.Curiously enough, watching THE CLAIM I was reminded of Nicolas Roeg's similar EUREKA (1983) - which also revolved around a family undone by the lust for gold - though it lacks that film's striking imagery (not to mention its equally distinctive eccentricity)..
And you can really get a glimpse of how the people's life during the Gold Rush was like.I personally think that this movie is more than just a romance story, and I am sure that everyone can at least get something out of watching it..
Wes Bentley is awesome in his second-round role after American Beauty, Milla Jovovich finally silences those who may have questioned her acting ability in The Messenger, and Sarah Polley gives a real, blistering, reminds-me-of-Emma-Thomson-esc truthful performance.
Probably more reminiscent of Heaven's Gate than the filmmakers would like, The Claim ultimately works much more effectively than Cimino's movie, for reasons that include Michael Winterbottom's ability to reign himself in a bit.
The ClaimDirector Michael Winterbottom Producer Andrew Eaton Writer Frank Cottrell Boyce Music Michael Nyman Photography Alwyn H Kuchler Starring Peter Mullen, Natassja Kinski, Milla Jovovitch, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polly, Sean McGinleyThe big American story is that in 1776 courageous American settlers fought for freedom and democracy against British monarchical tyranny.
Setting the Hardy story  amidst the relatively uncivilised landscape of the Sierra Nevada, in a thin society set up by invading hoards of the self interested, ruthless and ambitious representatives of unfettered capitalism, Michael Winterbottom, the film's young English director, and writer Frank Boyce have, with a measure of cynicism,  advanced a new moral context for the original story.
Ironically in this light it can be argued that the most important scene in the film - that of Dillon's confession of his secret shame to his daughter - is done too shortly to create the impact that such a pivotal revelation needs.Comparisons have been made with Altman's anti-Western 'McCabe and Mrs Miller', or Cimino's lumbering 'Heaven's Gate' and there are some similarities, particularly with the latter.
In addition the film achieves some startlingly beautiful moments:  when Dillon has the Burn's new home pulled through the snow their snowy pavilion settling down amongst the trees or, (in a scene reminiscent of one at the start of the very different 'Mars Attacks!') when a wagon detonates on one of Dalglish's surveying expeditions, and a blazing horse escapes into the mountains.
At the end of the film too he conjures another strong image, shot from a high angle overhead, as the men rummage like dogs for Dillon's gold in the snow in the midst of his burnt town.
Perhaps a familiarity with Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" will give you a greater depth of understanding, though it only seemed to get in the way of some reviewers on this page.You say there are some elements of the classic western in this flick: good guys, bad guys, saloon brawls, big hats, horses, gunfights, building a railroad, dancehall ladies.
The Claim is a very intelligently written film, one of Michael Winterbottom's strong points has been that even when a story is loose or not as linear as one expects(nothing wrong with that, there are a lot of great films that are somewhat unconventional) the script always comes alive in how thoughtful and intelligent it is, and that is the same with his direction as well.
The story once it gets going is fascinating with mostly engaging subplots and well-fleshed-out characters(especially Mullen's Dillon), it is slow and deliberate but it is a film that is very rich on atmosphere.
And come through it does making the film really elegiac and haunting in tone, the moving scenes like the ending are really emotionally powerful.
The film is about several such people who have made the jump from faraway homes, some are Irish come West with the famine, others Polish-born or from Lisbon."Jumping off", the phrase connotes the vastness of no man's land, a kind of cosmic gap.Ford's western wrote the legend, but left out those gaps of muddled life, which had to wait until around the time of Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller.
He has built a town with his gold, but that night of years ago which has left a gap in him comes back one day.The notion is that you wake up one day and life has gone, and so long as it settles on this in a visual way, the film has spark.
The only reason I bought it was because I'm a fan of Natassja Kinski.Well, Natassja didn't really have a leading role; instead the film focused mostly on Peter Mullan as Mr. Dillon, the wealthy, powerful owner of "Kingdom Come", a small but promising town at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Like Altman's much more entertaining and memorable film, The Claim offers gorgeous cinematography replete with snow-covered mountain vistas, realistic sets of a gritty pioneer mining town, and authentically costumed anti-heroic characters highlighted by a contingent of distinctly non-glamorous prostitutes.
Unusual and complex characters, a tragic story (that may be a little hard to follow) great performances by all especially Peter Mullan, Sarah Polley and Wes Bentley.
The story takes place years later in a moment of transition not only for the characters but also for the town which the holder of the claim has built, for changing times are at hand with the arrival of the railroad.It's obvious that it's because of ticket sales that Westerns have become a rarity in films, and that's a shame, because there's a stark realism to the look of this western, the town and saloon give the impression that perhaps it was really like that once upon a time in the west.
My town is a small one and we can only have the chance to see the big Hollywood productions.I had to wait for months to see this movie and I found it at Blockbusters yesterday.The cast is a dream cast for me I always liked Peter Mullan after My name is Joe.Milla Jovovich is an actress which I really find passionate.When the film was over I could not believe how bad it was.Meaningless details,bad picture quality and unbelievably bad story.
Director Michael Winterbottom tells the story of a certain Dillon (played by Peter Mullan who is most known of his typical Irish productions from Ken Loach) is one of the pioneers who starts setting up a new town (Kingdom Come) in the unexplored America in where there's still a market for people who do everything illegal (he owns a brothel at where his wife Jovohovic takes notice if all the money comes to the origin.
After all, the change of scenery in Michael Winterbottom's screen adaptation (here given the more marquee-friendly title 'The Claim') is only geographic, putting a visually restless Western spin on an otherwise typically mannered Old World allegory of guilt and retribution.The title character of Hardy's novel is now a wealthy, influential magnate in a Mother Lode boomtown likely to go bust unless the Central Pacific can lay its proposed trans-continental railway within whistle distance of the mines.
(A quick historical nitpick: the California gold rush took place in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills, nowhere near the timberline location of Kingdom Come.) You can see it also in the glistening teeth and glowing complexion of Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley, looking perhaps too fresh and contemporary against the mid 19th century grubbiness of their surroundings.Bentley is the young survey engineer attracted to Polley, the unsuspecting long-lost daughter of town boss Peter Mullen.
I was sold on seeing "The Claim" from the preview of a hunky bearded Wes Bentley looking longingly at one of my favorite Canadian actresses, Anne of Green Gables herself, Sarah Polley.It's been decades since I read "Mayor of Casterbridge" or years since I saw a "Masterpiece Theater" version so I can't remember how closely this is inspired by Thomas Hardy (the women certainly seem pluckier) but it's far more "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" than Yorkshire.The snowy Canadian and Colorado Rockies landscape is breathtaking and the Michael Nyman score rises to the peaks.The melange of French, Polish, Irish, Scotch etc.
accents are suitable for the uncivilized West of lonely gold miners, pioneers, fortune-hunters and adventurers on the cusp of the railroad changing the country forever.The Ozymandias references are a bit thick; perhaps Brit Michael Winterbottom doesn't realize that we're all familiar with the Western movie convention of the town controlled by one king (usually played recently by Gene Hackman), though unusually here Peter Mullan is not evil but sympathetically complex (strong and vulnerable, sexy and paternal), as he comes to grips with his past, while the rest of the town is coming to grips with its future.Bentley too is no stiff hero, but a regular guy on a mission of progress thrown into a series of temporary situations that become permanent.It's unusual that a costume drama set in the 1900's can seem so naturalistic.(originally written 5/5/2001).
The directing is interesting at times, but sometimes I wondered whether the director wanted his movie to look like a romantic MTV pop video, take the scene with the burning horse for example.
Michael Winterbottom directs "The Claim", an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" which transports the novelist's tale (which was originally set in Britain) to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains.With the largest budget he's ever gotten his hands on (about 20 million), Winterbottom constructs an elaborate nineteenth century frontier town, obviously inspired by the expansive sets built for Robert Altman's "McCabe and Miss Miller".The comparisons to Altman's film don't stop there.
Themes of greed, frontier opportunism, and the inability to successfully reconcile family and business abound (the film hinges on little "wars" between self-serving careerists and those loyal to family/towns/hookers-turned-wives/loved ones etc), but we never leave the level of melodrama.Other flaws: legendary composer Michael Nyman's score isn't used to good enough effect, Winterbottom can't compete with Altman, several of the film's characters are too "modern" or "anachronistic", using modern speaking patterns, inflections, intonations and accents, and Winterbottom isn't strong enough a visualist to really maximise his locations and sets.7.9/10 – Mixed bag, but the film's tragedy plays better the second time around..
At two points people are shot dead but we cut to life going on as normal, with no sign of grief or consequences for the community.The film looks like an amalgam of Winterbottom's Wonderland (the fireworks scene is recycled set-up for set-up) and Miller and Mrs. McCabe.
All the music did was take me out of the film and make me think how sad it is to see a genius plagiarizing his own work.The Claim looks nice in places, though the snow-covered pioneer town invites comparisons with Altman's masterpiece and once again falls short.
A young man (Peter Mullan) trades his wife (Nastasja Kinski) and baby (later to turn into Sarah Polley) for a gold mine and years later becomes the benign dictator of the town of Kingdom Come.
The music is great with a special mention to the performances of Lucia.The movie tells the story of a family divided by the greed and naivety of the man, greatly played by Peter Mullan, who sells his wife and young daughter for a claim to a gold-rich land property.
A character movie, based on emotions rather than action and delivering great results.All in all I would totally recommend this film.
As Dillon the owner of Kingdom Come, Mullen very much reminded me of the characters in Once Upon a Time in the West: all looks and no dialogue.