MFDB

Storyline

California in the winter of 1867, almost twenty years after the gold rush. Irishman Daniel Dillon came here with the same get-rich-quick dream as half a million others, except that Daniel’s dream actually came true.Dillon is the uncrowned king of a bustling small town in the snowbound mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The town’s name – Kingdom Come – speaks for itself. Almost everything here belongs to him: the mine, the bank, the hotel and the saloon – not least the affection of Lucia, who runs the local brothel. But then, the greed and ambition that once brought him so far finally threaten to catch up with Dillon. One day, three strangers roll up in Kingdom Come. One of them is a surveyor named Donald Dalglish who has been assigned by Central Pacific Railroad to prepare the way for the extension of the railway. Should he consider Kingdom Come to be the right place for a station it would mean the community’s continued growth; if not, it could spell the town’s downfall. The two other newcomers are both women: one is Dillon’s wife, Elena and the other, his daughter, Hope.Twenty years ago in a drunken stupor he sold them both for a bag of gold and a fresh claim. Elena, who is seriously ill,now wants to know why the man she once loved sold her away so cruelly. Elena also fears for Hope’s future; she has told her daughter that her father died many years ago.Were the truth ever to come to light, it could mean Dillon’s ruin . . .

Festivals & Academy awards and others

Berlin International Film Festival 2001
Competition