The Claim
Encyclopedia
The Claim is a 2000 British
Western
/romance film
directed by Michael Winterbottom
. The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce
is loosely based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge
by Thomas Hardy
. The original music score is composed by Michael Nyman
.
immigrant who settled in the high mountains of California
during the Gold Rush of 1849. It is now 1867, and we see that Dillon has a vault filled with gold and a town of his own, named Kingdom Come. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town; if someone digs for gold, rents a hotel room, opens a bank account, or commits a crime, they will have to deal with Dillon.
One of the few profitable enterprises in town that Dillon does not own is the saloon/brothel, which is operated by Lucia, his Portuguese
lover.
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.
Among the travelers who arrive in town with Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena Burn and her lovely teenage daughter Hope. The presence of these women 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. Dillon had come to these mountains with his Polish
wife Elena and their months old baby, Hope. On a cold and snowy night they happen upon a shack named Kingdom Come, owned by a disillusioned '49er named Burn. Similar to Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge, Dillon sells Elena and Hope to the prospector in exchange for the small gold claim (thus the film's title) that would later flourish and make Dillon so wealthy. Burn has died, and Elena has come to find Dillon because Burn left her with nothing, she is dying, and she wants Dillon to give her $200 per year so that she can "do right by Hope". (A major departure from the novel is that Hope is indeed Dillon's daughter.)
Dillon tells Lucia that they have to end it and gives her some gold bricks and the deeds to her home, the saloon/brothel, and the tobacco house. Lucia is heartbroken, wanting Dillon and not his money.
Dillon asks Elena to marry him (since no one knows that they are already married), revealing that he never married anyone else because he was always married to her. Their time after the marriage is short, filled with Dillon's efforts to find a cure for her illness and ending with her death.
Elena's death coincides with the decision to route the railway some distance from the town for easier passage and construction. Lucia moves the girls, the booze and the tobacco house to the valley, effectively moving the entire population of Kingdom Come to her new town of Lisboa
, named for her father's home in Portugal, to be near the railroad. Following Elena's funeral, Hope tells Dillon that she is leaving to find Dalglish and start a life with him. Dillon takes her up to the original shack Kingdom Come, showing her a picture of their family when she was a baby, and revealing the deal made right on that spot between him and Burn. Hope leaves him and goes to the new Lisboa.
Dillon is thus faced with the loss of Elena, Hope and his town. He sets fire to all the buildings in Kingdom Come. The smoke attracts the people of Lisboa, who find Dillon's frozen body in the snow near his original shack. Lucia is devastated, crying over the frozen body as it is brought back to the ruins of Kingdom Come. While many of the 'former' townspeople rush to find Dillon's stockpile of gold in the burned out vault, Hope and Dalglish choose instead to follow Dillon's body as Lucia and others continue with it down the mountain.
ski resort
in Kananaskis Country, Alberta
, Canada
. Near the end of the film, in a scene where the character of Dillon is standing in the street and throws an oil can onto a burning building, you can see the tower, cables and chairs of a modern ski lift
in the background. The decision to have the film's dramatic burning of the entire town of Kingdom Come also served as a first step to fulfill the producer's commitment to return the site to its original natural condition.
Some secondary filming took place in Colorado.
The town that Lucia creates in the valley below Kingdom Come is not to be confused with the real town of Lisbon, California (now the unincorporated community of Arcade), located on the route of the Sacramento Northern Railway
which started operation in 1918.
'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 Shootout" 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.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
/romance film
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
directed by Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
. The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce
Frank Cottrell Boyce
-Awards:*2004: Buch des Monats des Instituts für Jugendliteratur/Book of the Month by the Institute for Youth Literature , Millions*2004: Carnegie Medal, Millions*2004: Luchs des Jahres , Millions...
is loosely based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge , subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge . The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England...
by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
. The original music score is composed by Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
.
Plot summary
Daniel Dillon is an IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrant who settled in the high mountains of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
during the Gold Rush of 1849. It is now 1867, and we see that Dillon has a vault filled with gold and a town of his own, named Kingdom Come. Dillon owns nearly every business of consequence in the town; if someone digs for gold, rents a hotel room, opens a bank account, or commits a crime, they will have to deal with Dillon.
One of the few profitable enterprises in town that Dillon does not own is the saloon/brothel, which is operated by Lucia, his Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
lover.
Donald Dalglish is a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
with the Central Pacific Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...
, 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.
Among the travelers who arrive in town with Dalglish are two women, the beautiful but ailing Elena Burn and her lovely teenage daughter Hope. The presence of these women 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. Dillon had come to these mountains with his Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
wife Elena and their months old baby, Hope. On a cold and snowy night they happen upon a shack named Kingdom Come, owned by a disillusioned '49er named Burn. Similar to Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge, Dillon sells Elena and Hope to the prospector in exchange for the small gold claim (thus the film's title) that would later flourish and make Dillon so wealthy. Burn has died, and Elena has come to find Dillon because Burn left her with nothing, she is dying, and she wants Dillon to give her $200 per year so that she can "do right by Hope". (A major departure from the novel is that Hope is indeed Dillon's daughter.)
Dillon tells Lucia that they have to end it and gives her some gold bricks and the deeds to her home, the saloon/brothel, and the tobacco house. Lucia is heartbroken, wanting Dillon and not his money.
Dillon asks Elena to marry him (since no one knows that they are already married), revealing that he never married anyone else because he was always married to her. Their time after the marriage is short, filled with Dillon's efforts to find a cure for her illness and ending with her death.
Elena's death coincides with the decision to route the railway some distance from the town for easier passage and construction. Lucia moves the girls, the booze and the tobacco house to the valley, effectively moving the entire population of Kingdom Come to her new town of Lisboa
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, named for her father's home in Portugal, to be near the railroad. Following Elena's funeral, Hope tells Dillon that she is leaving to find Dalglish and start a life with him. Dillon takes her up to the original shack Kingdom Come, showing her a picture of their family when she was a baby, and revealing the deal made right on that spot between him and Burn. Hope leaves him and goes to the new Lisboa.
Dillon is thus faced with the loss of Elena, Hope and his town. He sets fire to all the buildings in Kingdom Come. The smoke attracts the people of Lisboa, who find Dillon's frozen body in the snow near his original shack. Lucia is devastated, crying over the frozen body as it is brought back to the ruins of Kingdom Come. While many of the 'former' townspeople rush to find Dillon's stockpile of gold in the burned out vault, Hope and Dalglish choose instead to follow Dillon's body as Lucia and others continue with it down the mountain.
Main cast
- Peter MullanPeter MullanPeter Mullan is a Scottish actor and film-maker who has been appearing in films since 1990.-Early life:Mullan, the sixth of eight children, was born in Peterhead in the northeast of Scotland, the son of Patricia, a nurse, and Charles Mullan, a lab technician who worked at Glasgow University. He...
as Daniel Dillon - Milla JovovichMilla JovovichMilla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
as Lucia - Wes BentleyWes BentleyWesley Cook "Wes" Bentley is an American film actor known for his role of Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.-Early life:Bentley was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the son of Cherie and David Bentley, who are United Methodist ministers....
as Donald Dalglish - Nastassja KinskiNastassja KinskiNastassja Kinski is a German-born American-based actress who has appeared in more than 60 films. Her starring roles include her Golden Globe Award-winning portrayal of the title character in Tess and her roles in two erotic films , as well as parts in Wim Wenders' films The Wrong Move; Paris,...
as Elena Dillon/Burn/Dillon - Sarah PolleySarah PolleySarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
as Hope Dillon/Burn - Julian RichingsJulian RichingsJulian Richings is an English-born Canadian actor. He appeared in over 50 Canadian films and 20 separate television series.-Life and career:...
as Frank Bellanger - Shirley HendersonShirley HendersonShirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire .-Early life:...
as Annie - Sean McGinleySeán McGinleySeán McGinley is an Irish film and television actor.-Early life:McGinley was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland where his father was a customs officer, and raised in nearby Ballyshannon...
as Sweetley - Tom McCamusTom McCamusTom McCamus is an award-winning Canadian film and theatre actor who is most widely known for his work on the science-fiction television show Mutant X....
as Burn - Karolina Muller as Young Elena
- Barry WardBarry WardBarry Ward born 13 January 1971 in New South Wales, Australia is a former rugby league player. He played for the Bulldogs, Illawarra Steelers, Sydney Roosters and St Helens as a prop and in the second-row....
as Young Dillon - Duncan Frasier as Crocker
Production
Primary filming took place at the Fortress MountainFortress Mountain
Fortress Mountain is a ski resort in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada.Located on the face of The Fortress, the resort spans over 3.8 km² from a top elevation of 2369 m to the base at 2040 m , and is serviced by 3 chairlifts and 2 T-bars...
ski resort
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
in Kananaskis Country, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Near the end of the film, in a scene where the character of Dillon is standing in the street and throws an oil can onto a burning building, you can see the tower, cables and chairs of a modern ski lift
Ski lift
The term ski lift generally refers to any transport device that carries skiers up a hill. A ski lift may fall into one of the following three main classes:-Lift systems and networks:...
in the background. The decision to have the film's dramatic burning of the entire town of Kingdom Come also served as a first step to fulfill the producer's commitment to return the site to its original natural condition.
Some secondary filming took place in Colorado.
The town that Lucia creates in the valley below Kingdom Come is not to be confused with the real town of Lisbon, California (now the unincorporated community of Arcade), located on the route of the Sacramento Northern Railway
Sacramento Northern Railway
←The Sacramento Northern Railway was originally a electric interurban railway linking Chico in northern California to the California capitol of Sacramento The original name of the line was the Chico Electric Railway, or CERY. CERY was sold after a few months of operation to the Northern Electric...
which started operation in 1918.
Music
The Claim is Michael NymanMichael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
'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
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
's Western scores. "The Shootout" also incorporates material from A Zed & Two Noughts
A Zed & Two Noughts
Elements of Michael Nyman's score invoke the "Dies Irae" section from Heinrich Ignaz Biber's Requiem ex F con terza minore. The Angelfish Decay/Swan Rot/L'Escargot theme was originally written for Childs Play, a dance work commissioned by Lucinda Childs. Performance of the soundtrack is credited...
and Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books
Prospero's Books , written and directed by Peter Greenaway, is a cinematic adaptation of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare. John Gielgud is Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters...
in a layered manner with elements of the main themes of the score and a Morricone-style trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
motif. The score includes the principal scalar riff that appears in numerous Nyman works, including Out of the Ruins
Out of the Ruins
Out of the Ruins is a choral work by Michael Nyman for an eponymous BBC documentary by Agnieszka Piotrowska in commemorating the first anniversary of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia 7 December 1988, which aired on the BBC's 40 Minutes. The texts are from Grigor Narekatsi's Book of Lamentations...
, String Quartet No. 3, À la folie
À la folie
The music by Michael Nyman has been praised as one of his better works, and considered unusually buried in the sound mix of the film. The album is Nyman's 23rd release, and the fourteenth with the Michael Nyman Band...
, Carrington
Carrington (film)
Carrington is a biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington , who was known simply as "Carrington"...
, the rejected score from Practical Magic
Practical Magic
Practical Magic is a 1998 American fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witches who carry on a family legacy of witchcraft and tragedy. The film is based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman...
, and The End of the Affair
The End of the Affair (1999 film)
Michael Nyman would later use "Diary of Love" to open and close his solo album, The Piano Sings . As with many of Nyman's 1990s scores, he incorporates material from his String Quartet No.3, which was in turn based on a choral piece titled Out of the Ruins.-Track listing:#Diary of Hate 2:38#Henry...
. 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
The Piano Sings
The Piano Sings is a 2005 solo album by Michael Nyman featuring personal interpretations of film music he wrote between 1993 and 2003. It is his second release on his own label, MN Records, and his 49th release overall...
, which features Nyman's personal piano interpretations of music he had written for various films.
Track listing
- The Exchange
- The First Encounter
- The Hut
- The Explosion
- The Recollection
- The Fiery House
- The Betrothal
- The Firework Display
- The Train
- The Shootout
- The Death Of Elena
- The Explanation
- The Burning
- The Snowy Death
- The Closing
Personnel
The Michael Nyman OrchestraMichael Nyman Orchestra
The Michael Nyman Orchestra is a group that expands on the Michael Nyman Band for specific album work, often for movie soundtracks.-History:...
- Composed and conducted by Michael NymanMichael NymanMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
- OrchestrationOrchestrationOrchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
: Gary Carpenter/Michael Nyman - Programmer and music editor: Robert WorbyRobert WorbyRobert Worby is a composer, sound artist, writer and broadcaster based in London.He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 3's Hear and NowTowards the end of the 70s he played guitar and tapes in a post-punk band called The Distributors...
- AuricleAuricle EnsembleThe Auricle Ensemble is a chamber ensemble based in Scotland. It was created by a co-operative of professional musicians working in the UK in 2007 and has become known for its diverse programming....
Operator: Chris CozensChris CozensChris Cozens is a freestyle swimmer from Great Britain, who was a silver medallist in the 100 m freestyle at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Daegu, South Korea... - Orchestral contractor: Isobel Griffiths
- Engineer: Austin Ince
- Assistant Engineers: Simon Changer and Ryu Kawashima
- Recorded, mixed and edited at Whitfield Sterret Studios, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, September 2000 - Music published by Northlight Music Ltd. (BMIBroadcast Music IncorporatedBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
) - Executive in charge of music for MGM: Anita Camarata
- Executive in charge of soundtracks for Virgin Records America: Cynthia Sexton
- Special thanks to Nigel Barr, Declan Colgan, Elizabeth Lloyd and Miranda Westcott
- Design/Illustration: Dave McKeanDave McKeanDavid McKean is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician....
at Hourglass