I was sold on seeing "The Claim" from the preview of a hunky bearded Wes Bentley looking longingly at one of my favorite Canadian actresses, Anne of Green Gables herself, Sarah Polley.
It's been decades since I read "Mayor of Casterbridge" or years since I saw a "Masterpiece Theater" version so I can't remember how closely this is inspired by Thomas Hardy (the women certainly seem pluckier) but it's far more "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" than Yorkshire.
The snowy Canadian and Colorado Rockies landscape is breathtaking and the Michael Nyman score rises to the peaks.
The melange of French, Polish, Irish, Scotch etc. accents are suitable for the uncivilized West of lonely gold miners, pioneers, fortune-hunters and adventurers on the cusp of the railroad changing the country forever.
The Ozymandias references are a bit thick; perhaps Brit Michael Winterbottom doesn't realize that we're all familiar with the Western movie convention of the town controlled by one king (usually played recently by Gene Hackman), though unusually here Peter Mullan is not evil but sympathetically complex (strong and vulnerable, sexy and paternal), as he comes to grips with his past, while the rest of the town is coming to grips with its future.
Bentley too is no stiff hero, but a regular guy on a mission of progress thrown into a series of temporary situations that become permanent.
It's unusual that a costume drama set in the 1900's can seem so naturalistic.
(originally written 5/5/2001)
It's been decades since I read "Mayor of Casterbridge" or years since I saw a "Masterpiece Theater" version so I can't remember how closely this is inspired by Thomas Hardy (the women certainly seem pluckier) but it's far more "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" than Yorkshire.
The snowy Canadian and Colorado Rockies landscape is breathtaking and the Michael Nyman score rises to the peaks.
The melange of French, Polish, Irish, Scotch etc. accents are suitable for the uncivilized West of lonely gold miners, pioneers, fortune-hunters and adventurers on the cusp of the railroad changing the country forever.
The Ozymandias references are a bit thick; perhaps Brit Michael Winterbottom doesn't realize that we're all familiar with the Western movie convention of the town controlled by one king (usually played recently by Gene Hackman), though unusually here Peter Mullan is not evil but sympathetically complex (strong and vulnerable, sexy and paternal), as he comes to grips with his past, while the rest of the town is coming to grips with its future.
Bentley too is no stiff hero, but a regular guy on a mission of progress thrown into a series of temporary situations that become permanent.
It's unusual that a costume drama set in the 1900's can seem so naturalistic.
(originally written 5/5/2001)