Themes: Haunted By the Past, Prospectors and Land Rights, Immigrant Life
Main Cast: Peter Mullan, Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Nastassja Kinski, Sarah Polley
Release Year: 2000
Country: CA/UK
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
One man's small empire threatens to collapse under the weight of his greed and deceit in this drama that transplants the story of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge to 19th century America. In 1867, Dillon (Peter Mullan) is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order a drink, they have to go to Dillon to do it. One of the few profitable enterprises in town that he doesn't own is the brothel, which is operated by Lucia (Milla Jovovich), Dillon's lover. Circumstances change somewhat when Dalglish - a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad - turns up and expresses his plans to implement a railroad in the area. Dillon, sensing a great opportunity afoot, travels well out of his way to ensure that the line is run through Kingdom Come, to enhance the town's commercial prospects. Also arriving in town the same time as Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena (Nastassja Kinski) and her lovely teenage daughter Hope (Sarah Polley); their presence is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come. The Claim is Michael Winterbottom's second adaptation of the works of Thomas Hardy; his 1996 feature Jude was adapted from Hardy's final novel, Jude the Obscure. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
In a matter of a few years, director Michael Winterbottom has slowly become one of the more interesting British filmmakers currently working, simply by retaining the ability to make films that are both classical and progressive in nature. This period effort set in the wintry landscapes of the Sierra Nevada region proves to be his most unique and rewarding movie yet, blessed with an undeniably precise knowledge of time and place, with a permanent, lived-in quality brought to fruition by a remarkable ensemble cast. A director who never goes for cheap effect, Winterbottom subtly draws viewers into this haunting tale of family regained and the power of greed by letting them take in the details through small gestures. He is helped immeasurably by his production team, including the magnificent art direction by Mark Tildesley and cinematographer Alwin Kuchler, which conspires to create an epic picture that feels momentous as much with emotion as it does with visuals. The movie never draws attention to itself, which is why it becomes so affecting -- it is one of the few recent films that seem effortlessly rooted in its setting. Combined with his other 2000 offering -- the superb, working-class drama Wonderland) -- Winterbottom has become a master eavesdropper on lives as they are lived, creating a world that feels as real to the viewer as it does to the subjects onscreen. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Kerry Barden - Casting, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Suzanne Smith - Casting, Wendy Brazington - Casting, Douglas Berquist - Co-producer, Joanne Hansen - Costume Designer, Nick Laws - First Assistant Director, Michael Winterbottom - Director, Trevor Waite - Editor, Martin F. Katz - Executive Producer, Andrea Calderwood - Executive Producer, Alexis Lloyd - Executive Producer, Anita Overland - Line Producer, Michael Nyman - Composer (Music Score), Mark Tildesley - Production Designer, Ken Rempel - Production Designer, Alwin Küchler - Cinematographer, Andrew Eaton - Producer, Paul Healy - Set Designer, George Tarrant - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Cottrell Boyce - Screenwriter, Ian Wilson - Supervising Sound Editor, Thomas Hardy - Book Author
Michael Nyman's sweeping score to director Michael Winterbottom's film The Claim might contain the most mournful compositions of the composer's career. Nyman's most successful scores in the past have been those where he explored baroque minimalism, as seen in his film scores to many Peter Greenaway films, and those where he tackled strong emotions, as in his score to Jane Campion's The Piano. With The Claim, Nyman composes in broad strokes; the minimalism of past compositions is still on display, but it's buried under a wall of evocative strings and weary brass through most of tracks. Some critics have called The Claim Nyman's answer to Ennio Morricone's score for Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. It's not really a fair assessment of either score. It's true that there are echoes of "Jill's Theme" from Once Upon a Time in the West, perhaps most clearly in "The Burning," but the two composers display entirely different intentions and emotions. Morricone's score had overtures that sounded like rock music; there are moments in Morricone's score where a paranoid harmonica and raging distortion suggest infinite menace. As accomplished as Morricone's score is, there are definite camp underpinnings; that's the nature of a spaghetti western score. Nyman operates in a far more restrained set of boundaries. There's never a moment when the music sounds anything less than classical and refined. Each of Nyman's individual compositions strive for a myriad of feelings, whereas Morricone used his compositions to display the mood of the on-screen action, be it pensive, tense, or horrifying. The Claim almost gets bogged down in strings, as Nyman piles them on quite heavily. It's safe to say that the score probably works better when paired with Winterbottom's images than it does on its own. Since the movie deals with serious themes and generally avoids frivolity, Nyman's score seems almost deadly serious. The music is beautiful, but more variation would make it more palatable as a separate entity from the movie. It's much easier to appreciate most of Nyman's film scores after viewing the source movies, and The Claim might be the best example of a score that seems a bit overbearing when one can't place an image or a character to an emotion within the music. There are minor echoes of Morricone, and The Claim is a work of great artistry and much beauty, but it works better in Winterbottom's film than it does as an album. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide
Michael Nyman (Composer), Michael Nyman (Conductor), Michael Nyman (Orchestration), Paul Martin (Viola), Peter G. Hanson (Violin), Mark Berrow (Violin), Mike Brittain (Double Bass), Nick Cooper (Cello), Isobel Griffiths (Orchestra Contractor), Tony Hinnigan (Cello), Christopher Hooker (Oboe), Christopher Hooker (Cor Anglais), Greg Knowles (Percussion), Ann Morfee (Violin), Kate Musker (Viola), Steve Sidwell (Trumpet), Steve Sidwell (Flugelhorn), Steve Sidwell (Piccolo), Cathy Thompson (Violin), Nigel Barr (Trombone), Nigel Barr (Tuba), Dermot Crehan (Violin), Martin Elliott (Guitar (Bass)), William Schofield (Cello), Paul Willey (Violin), Austin Ince (Engineer), Patrick Kiernan (Violin), Jonathan Snowden (Flute), Jonathan Snowden (Piccolo), Bruce White (Viola), Dave McKean (Design), Dave McKean (Illustrations), Tom Bowes (Violin), Ed Coxon (Violin), Paul Gardham (French Horn), Ian Humphries (Violin), Julian Leaper (Violin), Paul Sherman (Double Bass), Robert Sigmund Worby (Programming), Robert Sigmund Worby (Music Editor), Rachel Allen (Violin), Sophie Harris (Cello), Gary Carpenter (Orchestration), Michael Nyman Orchestra (?), Simon Haram (Sax (Alto)), Simon Haram (Sax (Soprano))
In 1867, Daniel Dillon is an Irish immigrant who settled in California during the Gold Rush of '49 and has done quite well for himself. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town of Kingdom Come; if someone wants to dig for gold, rent a room, open a bank account, or even order a drink, they have to go to Dillon to do it. One of the few profitable enterprises in town that he doesn't own is the brothel, which is operated by Lucia, Dillon's Portuguese lover. This cosy arrangement is disturbed by the arrival of a coachload of travellers.
Donald Dalglish is a surveyor with the Central Pacific Railroad, which wants to put a train either through Kingdom Come, or somewhere in the vicinity. He is here to decide the route. Dillon is anxious to ensure that the railway line is routed through "his" town, as this will bring more business. Arriving in town with Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena Burn and her lovely teenage daughter Hope; their presence is deeply troubling for Dillon, for they are the keys to a dark secret Dillon has kept from the people of Kingdom Come for nearly twenty years. Like Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge, he had "sold" them 20 or so years earlier, in his case to a disillusioned prospector named Burn: Burn has died, and Elena is in need of money. (A major departure from "The Mayor of Casterbridge" is that Hope is indeed Dillon's daughter.)
Much of the emotional interest in the film revolves around Dalglish's ambivalent relations with Lucia (ditched by Dillon when his wife re-appears) and Hope, who is eminently nubile and altogether "a better class of person".
The death of Elena coincides with the decision to route the railway some distance from the town. Dillon is thus faced with a double blow.
The Claim is Michael Nyman's first (and, as of 2008, only) score for a Western, and his second collaboration with Michael Winterbottom. In it, in particular, in "The Shootout," Nyman pays homage to Ennio Morricone's Western scores. "The Shooting" also incorporates material from A Zed & Two Noughts and Prospero's Books in a layered manner with elements of the main themes of the score and a Morricone-style trumpet motif. The score includes the principal scalar riff that appears in numerous Nyman works, including Out of the Ruins, String Quartet No. 3, À la folie, Carrington, the rejected score from Practical Magic, and The End of the Affair. The Claim marks Michael Nyman's last use of this musical material (as of 2008).
Portions of the score appear as solo piano works on Nyman's 2005 album, The Piano Sings, which features Nyman's personal piano interpretations of music he had written for various films.
Albums to which
Nyman contributed
(as composer
and/or performer)
Recent English Experimental Music ·The Pavilion of Dreams · From The Kitchen Archives - New Music New York 1979 ·The Sensual World · Saxophone Works · John Harle's Saxophone Songbook ·Piano Circus · The Contemporary Trumpet ·Taking a Line for a Second Walk · Plus que Tango · Visions · First & Foremost · An Eye for a Difference · Pick It Up · Meeting Point: The Saxophone Concertos of Nyman, Heath and Torke ·Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward ·Generation Sex · The Golden Section (album) · Faces (Quartz Saxophone Quartet album) · Ahn-Plugged · Groovebox (Ahn Trio album) · Moving On
Singles/EPs
Mozart/Webern · The Heart Asks Pleasure First/The Promise · Anohito no Waltz · In Re Don Giovanni · Enemy Zero Piano Sketches
