As many viewers have noted, The Claim has much in common visually with McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Like Altman's much more entertaining and memorable film, The Claim offers gorgeous cinematography replete with snow-covered mountain vistas, realistic sets of a gritty pioneer mining town, and authentically costumed anti-heroic characters highlighted by a contingent of distinctly non-glamorous prostitutes. Its highly evocative musical score includes a stunningly original and effective diegetic use of the Portuguese fado.
In addition, The Claim offers some fascinating period details about the creation of the railroad and other little-seen aspects of 19th century pioneer life (like the medicinal use of electricity!). It also offers some stunning special effect fire and explosion sequences and generally fine acting (despite the dubious casting of Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley as the romantic leads). All in all, The Claim is in many respects a worthy latecomer to the revisionist school of the Western genre and is definitely worth viewing.
However, it does have a serious weakness that I believe derives from its verbally minimalist adaptation of a classic literary text, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. In place of Hardy's verbally constructed world of dark consuming passions, cosmic irony, and heavy fatalism, The Claim offers a visually rich but emotionally remote, dreamlike air that some critics have described as richly poetic, but that left me often feeling utterly disconnected from the events befalling the major characters.
Establishing characters' motivations and building/releasing tensions in their relationships is just a whole lot easier to do if words are allowed to reinforce (not substitute for) images. Instead, The Claim seems like it was filmed directly from a treatment that offered only the barest smattering of dialogue. In a story that wasn't so dependent on character this approach might have worked much better than it does here.
In addition, The Claim offers some fascinating period details about the creation of the railroad and other little-seen aspects of 19th century pioneer life (like the medicinal use of electricity!). It also offers some stunning special effect fire and explosion sequences and generally fine acting (despite the dubious casting of Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley as the romantic leads). All in all, The Claim is in many respects a worthy latecomer to the revisionist school of the Western genre and is definitely worth viewing.
However, it does have a serious weakness that I believe derives from its verbally minimalist adaptation of a classic literary text, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. In place of Hardy's verbally constructed world of dark consuming passions, cosmic irony, and heavy fatalism, The Claim offers a visually rich but emotionally remote, dreamlike air that some critics have described as richly poetic, but that left me often feeling utterly disconnected from the events befalling the major characters.
Establishing characters' motivations and building/releasing tensions in their relationships is just a whole lot easier to do if words are allowed to reinforce (not substitute for) images. Instead, The Claim seems like it was filmed directly from a treatment that offered only the barest smattering of dialogue. In a story that wasn't so dependent on character this approach might have worked much better than it does here.