The Claim Movie Review 2000

Winterbottom, who already adapted Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," takes on Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge," transporting the story to California during the gold rush. Miner Dillon (Mullan) sells his wife Elena (Kinski) and baby daughter for gold and uses the money to establish his own town. But his sins come back to haunt him when his dying wife and grown daughter Hope (Polley) arrive, as does railway surveyor Dalglish (Bentley). Now Dillon's very future is threatened. There's more than the winter weather that's chilly about the film, which never reaches the tragic dimensions it should.

Distribution

MGM Home Entertainment, 2500 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA 90404-6061, Phone: (310)449-3000, Fax: (310)449-3100, URL: http://www.mgmhomevideo.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 120 minutes.
Originally from British, Canadian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Books to Film: Thomas Hardy, Period Piece: 19th Century, Miners & Mining, Westerns, Family Reunions, Oldest Profession, Not-So-True Identity, Fires, Terminal Illness, Bad Dads

Screenplay

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Cast

Peter Mullan, Nastassja Kinski, Sarah Polley, Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Sean McGinley, Julian Richings

Cinematography

Alwin Kuchler

Director

Michael Winterbottom

Music

Michael Nyman

Other

George Tarrant, Trevor Waite, Joanne Hanson, Mark Tildesley, Ken Rempel

Producer

Andrew Eaton, Revolution Films, Alliance Atlantis Communications, Arts Council of England, Pathe Pictures, United Artists