Spikeopath "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven"Michael Winterbottom directs what is in essence a Western version of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. It's Sierra Nevada, California, 1867 and the pioneer town of Kingdom Come is thriving under the strict but effective rule of Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan). Dillon came by way of a gold claim many years earlier by way of a trade, the barter? His wife and child. 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. It's deliberately slow and purposely elegiac and ethereal. The literary aspects of the narrative positively sparkle, yet still this doesn't make the story any more vibrant, because Winterbottom and screenplay writer Frank Cottrell Boyce want to keep things in perspective. In a film that is awash with untold beauty, the snowy mountainous landscapes (Calgary standing in for California) stunningly photographed by Alwin H. Küchler, it's perpetually cold and bleak, the ice and snow a constant that marries up with characters who are deliberately hard to like.Technically this is one superior piece of work. Küchler and Winterbottom's panoramas are sublime, the town is strikingly designed by the art department, all wooded angles and smoking chimneys that are magnificently framed by the mountains, while the sound-mix thunders the ears and adds another dimension to the grubby realistic feel. 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. Narratively the film is driving towards Dillon's day of reckoning, his shoulders heavy with regret and his soul in desperate need of purging. 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. Yes, this is similar in style and execution, but why not just see it as the perfect companion piece to Altman's movie? Because it is. How about we instead look at the finale? Which draws a favourably thematic link to the brilliant Boetticher/Scott Western, Ride Lonesome. When push comes to shove, and in honest terms, The Claim is a film that for sure may be hard to love, but it sure as heck fire is a film that is easy to admire. Western fans should see it because they "will" take something positive from the experience. 8/10

neonwave-623-684821 ***Spoiler alert of a difficult scene involving horses*** Although overall a beautifully filmed movie with a great story, there is one scene that I'll never be able to get out of my head, that of the exploding chemical detonation materials wagon used by the surveyors of the railroad. It was not so much the presumed facsimile (were they?) animal parts lying in the snow near the burning, blown up wagon, but the haunting image (for what seemed an eternity) of the surviving horse dashing full speed away from the remains with it's body mostly on fire. I kept waiting for relief, for the fire to be quenched, but alas, this horse never did "drop and roll", and the scene is cut without resolution. As the movie was filmed on location in both Canada and the United States (Colorado), I waited expectantly to see the AHA credit (or Canadian equivalent) roll at the end to assure that indeed, no animals were harmed in the making of this film. There was no AHA credit or any other disclaimer. I searched online to see if anything had been written about this scene, and whatever happened to that horse, but have been unable to find any additional information. I want to believe that it was special effects, that the horse was not harmed. But it looked too real, and I'm sure that was the desired effect, to reflect what historically happened to working horses of that era.Please, if anyone has any other information to share about this particular scene, kindly post it. I don't want to discredit this otherwise engaging movie just because of this scene, if its animal actors were truly protected during filming.Thank you.

Carson Trent Beautiful screening of Hardy's novel which, while just 1.20 minutes long ,achieves epic proportions due to it's well paced narrative, great acting and setting, some breathtaking winter landscapes. 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. He will achieve wealth, but will always be haunted by his past. Twenty years later he will try to make amens, but will have to pay the ultimate price in order to regain his honor.While shot in a blue tint, the movie is very colorful in depicting the life of multi-ethnic immigrants, as well as the life in the American gold rush at the turn of the 19-th century and also the end of a town which fate didn't favor to be crossed by the yet to be built railway. The ballad of Noreen Bawn remains haunting and furthermore accentuates hardship and turmoil these settlers went through their quest for a new life, gold, or redemption.

Marianka This movie has two main and huge problems: First, the plot is TERRIBLE. I thought there would be some psychological drama going on, but no and nothing. From the beginning to the end it's just dull dull dull, nothing going on, no good storyline, there were plenty of things I just did not understand at all, it was all confusing. I mean, the original idea was good, but that's about it. Second: it seems the director didn't think about how the scene looks like at all. Everything was new, it was obvious it had never been used before. People had new clothes on, even those working on the railroad, new tents (very clean, newly bought, newly built, not a drop of snow fell on them, although it seems to be snowing none stop.), some people have sunglasses (that could be my mistake, but were sunglasses common in the Sierra Nevada in 1887?), and nothing was realistic.The first twenty minutes I tried to watch the movie, then I had fun commenting it with my sister, but the second half, I was looking on the internet about it, see if some people liked it, because I couldn't really watch it anymore.Why do people shoot such movies? DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE! Please.