THE CLAIM (2000) - Movie Review

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley, Nastassja Kinski, Milla Jovovich
Genre: Drama, Romance, Western
Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Runtime: 120 min
Rated: R for sexuality, and some language and violence
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Dillon (Peter Mullan) is a pioneer who defied the harsh winter in search of rumored gold. Having amassed unimaginable riches, he runs a thriving mining town called Kingdom Come. But the blind ambition and greed that drove him to succeed finally catch up to him with the arrival of 3 strangers. Dalglish (Wes Bentley) a surveyor looking to expand the railroad threatens the future of the town -- and 2 women from Dillon's past hold a secret that could be his undoing.

Review:

Set during the 1800s' Gold Rush, Michael Winterbottom's period drama "The Claim" is a loose adaptation of Thomas Hardy's masterpiece "The Mayor of Casterbridge". With a stellar cast that includes Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley, Nastassja Kinski and Milla Jovovich, the film went by largely unnoticed when it was released in 2000. It bombed at the box office and didn't find favor with critics, either. It has now been largely forgotten, but it did get a Blu-ray release in December, which is how I discovered this unusual and unconventional western epic.

Mining towns sprung up like mushrooms during that feverish historical period, and one such boom town is the movie's fictional Kingdom Come. Located in the harsh landscape of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, it is ruled over by Irish immigrant Daniel Dillon (Mullan), one of the lucky few who struck literal gold and amassed a sizeable fortune after 20 years of hard work. All his success, however, also hides a dark secret. The arrival in town of a railroad surveyor (Wes Bentley) and two women, mother (Nastassja Kinski) and daughter (Sarah Polley), sets in motion events that threaten to topple Dillon's small empire.

"The Claim" goes heavy on the allegory and brooding atmosphere, but lacks a tightly focused plot. As a result, the pacing is slow and it's often emotionally distant despite featuring romantic subplots and a tragic central character. Its themes of blind ambition, greed, and redemption shine through the muddled narrative but their impact is diminished to a degree. The cast and production values, however, are the film's greatest assets.

Mullan and Kinski are fantastic, and even though Polley, Bentley and Jovovich feel miscast, they still do a good job. It's nice to see Jovovich in something that isn't a "Resident Evil" sequel or some other generic genre b-movie. The film is also visually stylish with flawless art direction and gorgeous cinematography that gives it a surreal and hypnotic beauty.

Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed "The Claim", though it's definitely not for everyone. It's a character-driven morality tale that gets depressingly dark at times and the glacial pacing will turn some viewers off. However, it's also an elegantly crafted epic with a great premise at its core and excellent acting. I feel it's a movie undeserving of the oblivion into which it has fallen, and it needs to be rediscovered and reevaluated.

SCORE: 8/10