Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan) has built a personal empire — the town of Kingdom Come — around a Sierra Nevada, Calif., gold mine that has made him rich beyond imagination.

But the gold came at a price. Twenty years ago, Dillon was a penniless prospector, bogged down by a wife and infant child. He stumbled across an older miner who had struck gold. The old miner made an intriguing proposition. He’d trade his mine for the woman and child. Dillon made the swap.

Then, one day, the former wife and grown-up child show up in Kingdom Come. Seems Mr. Burn died; the wife (Nastassja Kinski as Elena Burn) is dying of a fatal illness. Her hope is that Dillon will do right by his daughter, named Hope (Sarah Polley).

Into this mix rides Dalglish (Wes Bentley), an Irishman scouting the region for a railroad route. Dillon desperately wants the railroad to go through his town. Dillon also decides to make up for the sins of his past. He marries Elena and tries to get close to his confused daughter, who still doesn’t know the truth — that he’s her real father, a father who sold her when she was still a baby.

Sarah Polley as Hope in The Claim (2000)

Wes Bentley as Donald Dalglish in The Claim (2000)

Review

As majestic and as unique and as well-acted 21st Century Western as you’re likely to find. It’s a beautiful looking film, filled with the snow covered mountains of Calgary, Canada.

And Director Winterbottom serves up some wonderful scenes. Dillon’s men laying down a sidewalk so Hope and Lucia can make their way through the muck with their gowns unharmed. A majestic new home Dillon had built being pulled into place by men and teams of horses. An explosion that leaves another horse fleeing the scene while on fire.

Because, for all its beauty, this is a harsh land as well, and was even harsher when Dillon first arrived. Peter Mullen turns in a strong performance as Dillon, the man who made a fortune off a deal with the older prospector, but now finds himself wanting to make amends for that deal.

But for all his riches, he quickly turns desperate. The railroad that will make his Kingdom Come permanent may opt for another route. And even after remarrying the woman he abandoned so many years earlier, developing a relationship with his daugther proves anything but easy.
.
Oh, Winterbottom serves up a wonderful ending as well. I won’t spoil that.

Peter Mullan as Daniel Dillon in The Claim (2000)

Nastassja Kinski as Elena Burn in The Claim (2000)

Directed by:
Michael Winterbottom

Cast:
Peter Mullan … Daniel Dillon
Milla Jovovich … Lucia
Wes Bentley … Donald Dalglish
Nastassja Kinski … Elena Burn
Sarah Polley … Hope Burn
Shirley Henderson … Annie
Julian Richards … Frank Bellanger
Sean McGinley … Sweetley
Tom McCamus … Burn
Karolina Muller … Young Elena
Barry Ward … Young Dillon
Duncan Frasier … Crocker

aka:
Kingdom Come

Runtime: 120 min.

Milla Jovovich as Lucia in The Claim (2000)

Tom McCamus as Burn, the lonely miner, in The Claim (2000)

Memorable lines:

Customer in whorehouse: “Where’s she going?”
Madame: “She’s going down the hall.”
Customer: “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
Madame: “Well, you’re going to wait for a while longer, aren’t you? You didn’t bring the railroad to town.”

Prospector: “Find anything?”
Young Dillon: “There’s no gold in America. No more gold than there is elephants.”
Prospector, after pouring out a pouch of gold: “There’s no pleasure. A man loses heart. Even if he makes a strike, he loses heart.”

Dalglish: “They were like kings.”
Hope: “Who were?”
Dalglish: “The pioneers. People like Dillon. They came out here when there was nothing. They built these towns. And ruled them. Like kings.”