In 1849, a man starts a boom town during California’s gold rush within the Sierra Nevada mountains. Eighteen years pass, and his deserted wife and daughter (played by Nastassja Kinski and Sarah Polley) arrive, disrupting his existence (Peter Mullan). Milla Jovovich portrays his saloon singer, while Wes Bentley appears as a surveyor for the approaching railroad. “The Claim” (2000) is an excellent Western that someh…

Michael Winterbottom’s direction reimagines Thomas Hardy's *The Mayor of Casterbridge* as a Western, set in Sierra Nevada, California, in 1867. The story follows Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan), who leads the flourishing pioneer town of Kingdom Come with an iron hand. He gained control of the settlement years before through a trade – essentially bartering his wife and child for a gold claim. Now, however, his past is ab…