The Claim has been criticized for being a 90-minute emotional drama packed into a 2 hour film. Director Michael Winterbottom does not rush this film even though it takes place just after the gold "rush."

The setting is Kingdom Come, a gold rush town in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, and for a wild west town lawlessness is kept in check by the owner of the town Daniel Dillon (Peter Mullan). Mullan behind a full beard seems to be doing a Russell Crow impression, still I enjoyed his performance and the humanity of his character. Sure the town is well stocked with whores, but they are well cared for and are clearly happy in their employ. It appears to be in a permanent state of winter, and some of the film was reminiscent of Cold Mountain.

Dillon did an unthinkable thing years ago, which is shown to us in a flashback and though his sacrifice was great, it was this move that brought him his riches. As the film starts Dillon's past comes back to haunt him in the form of two women: Elena Burn (Nastassja Kinski), who is dying of consumption, and her pretty blonde daughter Hope (Sarah Polley). He is currently seeing a sex chanteuse named Lucia (Milla Jovovich), who shares some of the responsibilities of Dillon's wealth, looking after the whores and also singing her French Caissons in the saloon. (Milla first came to our attention as a singer over a dozen years ago.)

Arriving at the same time as the Burn's is a contingent of Railroad surveyors lead by (Wes Bentley). His business in town is to determine where the railroad should pass through the area. Obviously, putting it as close as possible to town would be good for Dillon, who does whatever he can to persuade Bentley to see that it happens. Bentley in the meantime has caught the eye of Hope Burn, and for his part he is also attracted to her. Their scenes together, though hardly romantic, I found touching and well done. She realizes that he's a traveling man, and is stuck caring for her mother, yet her mother encourages her to follow her dreams and not to let her health stand in the way of a good life for her daughter.

Dillon is forced to reckon with his former misdeeds when Kinski confronts him to ask for money for her health care, and being a man in touch with his conscience decides to remarry Kinski and take care of the family that he once turned his back upon in favor of fortune. This is a development that does not go over well with Milla, but she accepts it and turns her attention toward Bentley.

Though it takes a while for the film to come to it's dramatic head, I contend it's worth the wait and is filled with some touching moments that are handled without undue sentimentality. The performances are good throughout, and I think Bentley was wise to do something completely different than "American Beauty." In fact he looks a good bit like Jude Law in Cold Mountain.

It was nice to see Kinski in a good role, Milla Jovovich was finally well cast in a film and there was even a nice performance turned in by the diminutive Sally Phillips who was so winning in Bridget Jones Diary and Intermission. This is a slow film I'll admit and I could see someone calling it Merchant Ivory goes west, but I enjoyed the slow character development and all of the performances were solid across the board.