The Claim (2000)

Directed by Michael Winterbottom. With Wes Bentley, Peter Mullan, Ron Anderson, Marty Antonini. A prospector who sold his wife and infant daughter in exchange for a mining claim, tries desperately to win them back as he helps to build the Pacific Railroad with a group of pioneer friends.

The Claim is a 2000 British-Canadian Western romance film directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Sarah Polley, Nastassja Kinski and Milla Jovovich.[2] The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce is loosely based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge,

In the town of Kingdom Come, winter is more of a punishment than a season. High in a pass of the Sierra Nevada mountains, its buildings of raw lumber stand like scars on the snow. The promise of gold has drawn men here, but in the winter there is little to do but wait, drink and visit the brothel. The town is owned and run by Mr. Dillon, a trim Scotsman in his 40s who is judge, jury and (if necessary) executioner.

An epic love story set against the wintry backdrop of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the early days of California. Dillon, a pioneer, defies the harsh surroundings in search of gold. Having struck it rich, he establishes a thriving mining town called Kingdom Come. But blind ambition and greed catch up to him in the form three strangers that arrive in town. A surveyor hoping to extend the Central Pacific Railroad through Kingdom Come, threatens to destroy any future the town has. And, two women from Dillon's past are the key to a secret that could lead to his undoing.

Inspired by Thomas Hardy's fable "The Mayor of Casterbridge," "The Claim" boasts the physical scale and formal beauty of an epic Western, but it suffers from a slim and fractured narrative, unengaging mode of storytelling and yet another irritating performance from Milla Jovovich.

Summary: A raw, romantic tale of stark beauty and primal authenticity about how dreams collided with greed in the making of California. [MGM]

The Claim summary of box office results, charts and release information and related links.

The Claim (2000) Trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218378/ Director: Michael Winterbottom Peter Mullan, Milla Jovovich, Wes Bentley, Nastassja Kinski, Sar...