The Claim (2000)

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writers:

Thomas Hardy (novel)
Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 February 2001 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Everything has a price.

Plot:

A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later...

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Gold Mine | Railroad | Surveyor | Miner

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 4	4:00 PM	TMC
Tue. Jan. 5	5:35 AM	TMC
Thur. Jan. 7	3:55 PM	TMC

Cast

Peter Mullan	...	Daniel Dillon
Milla Jovovich	...	Lucia
Wes Bentley	...	Donald Dalglish
Nastassja Kinski	...	Elena Burn
Sarah Polley	...	Hope Burn
Shirley Henderson	...	Annie
Julian Richings	...	Francis Bellanger
Sean McGinley	...	Mr. Sweetley
Randy Birch	...	Priest
Tom McCamus	...	Mr. Burn
Frank Zotter	...	Photographer
Artur Ciastkowski	...	Delany
Barry Ward	...	Young Dillon
Karolina Muller	...	Young Elena
David Lereaney	...	Saloon Actor

Also Known As:

Kingdom Come (USA) (working title)
Le maître de Kingdom Come (Canada: French title)
Rédemption (France)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, and some language and violence.

Runtime:

120 min | Spain:115 min (DVD edition)

Country:

UK | France | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Singapore:M18 | France:U | Germany:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | South Korea:18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Alliance Atlantis Communications

Trivia:

The official Web site of the movie was one of the first to track a production day by day, with journal entries, commentary, still photographs and video. The Web site visitors were asked to help pick a new name for the production when the original title, "Kingdom Come", was awarded by the M.P.A.A. to a rival production.

Movie Connections:

Featured in My Big Break (2009)

Soundtrack:

Menina E Moca

Admirable use of realistic pioneer accents

One of my favourite things about this fine film is that the characters have European accents; too often films set in the American frontier of the 19th Century have their characters speaking in unlikely modern American accents. It adds greatly to the film's believability, as well as reminding the viewer that these were people who left their homelands, usually to escape extreme poverty, and started a new life in what was (to the white man) unknown territory; this utter anonymity helps explain the actions of some of the characters in the film. Indeed the central theme, the cost of sacrificing what one has for a possible better life, is an aspect of emigration itself; the poem "Noreen Bán" recited by Hope Byrne recalls the tragedy of mass emigration from Ireland after the Great Famine, so its impact on Dillon is multiplied.

Great credit is also due to the actors, excellent performances all round.