***The beginning and end of a boom town in the Sierra Nevadas***

During the California gold rush of 1849 a desperate man establishes a boom town in the Sierra Nevadas. Eighteen years later his abandoned wife & daughter (Nastassja Kinski & Sarah Polley) ride into town and turn his life (Peter Mullan) upside down. Milla Jovovich plays his singing saloon babe while Wes Bentley is on hand as a surveyor for the railroad that’s coming through.

“The Claim” (2000) is a top-of-the-line Western that inexplicably fell through the cracks when it was released. It has similarities to “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971), but with more interesting characters, a more compelling story and spectacular locations, not to mention less focus on a house of ill repute.

If you appreciate grim, realistic Westerns like “The Great Silence” (1968), “Bad Company” (1972), “The Missouri Breaks” (1976), “Heaven’s Gate” (1980), “Unforgiven” (1992) and “North Star” (1996), you’ll like this one. It’s as good or, in most cases, better. I should add that it’s not all grim; there are glimmerings of light.

The film runs 2 hours and was shot at Fortress Mountain, Kananaskis Country, Alberta, with the train sequences filmed in Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, Colorado.

GRADE: A-/B+