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The claim

Threat advisory: Guarded - General risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Everything has a price.

When Californians discovered gold, the world discovered California. Willingly or not, as a consequence, Americans were about to learn some... exhilarating truths about themselves. - historian Malcolm J Rohrbough in The Sacramento Bee

The claim brings to life the heady days when California was the last frontier, the final untamed wilderness - and makes intensely personal a time that transformed an entire nation. This was one of the most frenzied and ambitious periods in American history. It was a time of tremendous expansion, but also unmitigated destruction and disaster, of all-out adventure and of families torn apart. The forces set loose by the gold rush would create a new world, but those in the middle of it watched as life the way they knew it was forever altered.

The story begins twenty years after the gold rush of 1849, which prompted one of the largest human migrations in history, as half a million people from around the world descended in droves upon primal California in search of rumoured gold. Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan) is a pioneer who defied the harsh winter landscape and amassed unimaginable riches, becoming the veritable king of a thriving mountain town called Kingdom Come, where he owns everything of importance, including the bank, the mine, the hotel and the liquor store. He even has won the affections of the exotic local brothel owner Lucia (Milla Jovovich).

Now the blind ambition and greed that drove him to succeed are about to catch up with him as three strangers come into town. One is Mr Dalglish (Wes Bentley), a surveyor looking to expand the central pacific railroad into kingdom come, threatening to make or break the future of the town. The other are two women - the beautiful young Hope (Sarah Polley) and the ailing Elena (Nastassja Kinski) - who hold secrets from Dillon's past that could be his undoing. Even in this land of immense landscapes, and even bigger changes, the most remarkable shifts of all still take place in the heart.

Persons of interest

Peter Mullan .... Daniel Dillon
Milla Jovovich .... Lucia
Wes Bentley .... Dalglish
Sarah Polley .... Hope
Nastassja Kinski .... Elena
Julian Richings .... Bellinger
Sean McGinley .... Sweetley
Marie Brassard
Shirley Henderson
Thomas Hardy .. Novelist: The Mayor of Casterbridge
Frank Cottrell Boyce .... Screenwriter
Michael Winterbottom .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The claim official movie site
The claim QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Sutherland Shire Film Festival 2001: Screening

Studios and distributors:

MGM * 20th Century Fox

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

What people did in the wild, wild west before they invented cows: drink, shoot, fornicate, dig. After that much excitement it goes downhill somewhat. No-one gives a performance worth writing home about (or even worth writing a review about) and the Running time seems like three hours rather than two so The claim drags on until the final, low-level climax finale. This is one of those films that people do for the money rather than the rewards of practising their profession.

Media intelligence (DVD)

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Disc: Single side, single layer
Languages: English, Italian
Picture: Widescreen 16:9
Subtitles: Dutch, French, Italian, English captions

Security censorship classification

M (Adult themes, medium level violence, low level coarse language, low level sex scene)

Surveillance time

115 minutes (1:55 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 28 October 2001 - Sutherland Shire Film Festival
Film: 29 November 2001 - Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney
DVD rental: 10 April 2002
VHS rental: 10 April 2002