River Queen (2005)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Vincent Ward

Writers:

Vincent Ward (story)
Vincent Ward (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 January 2006 (New Zealand)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

With darkness all around, only the heart can see.

Plot:

An intimate story set during the 1860s in which a young Irish woman Sarah and her family find themselves on both sides of the turbulent wars between British and Maori during the British colonization of New Zealand. |

Plot Keywords:

Maori | Irish | Colonization | New Zealand | Period Piece

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Samantha Morton	...	Sarah O'Brien
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Doyle
Cliff Curtis	...	Wiremu
Temuera Morrison	...	Te Kai Po
Anton Lesser	...	Baine
Rawiri Pene	...	Boy
Stephen Rea	...	Francis
Wi Kuki Kaa	...	Old Rangi
Mark Ruka	...	Hone
Tyson Reweti	...	Tommy Boy
Grayson Putu	...	Young Wiremu
Nathan Passfield	...	Boy (7) Years
Laura Coyte Douglas	...	Theresa
Julie Ranginui	...	Old Puhi
Brandon Lakshman	...	Timoti

MPAA:

Rated R for violent and sexual content.

Runtime:

Canada:114 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

New Zealand | UK

Language:

English | Maori

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M (re-rating on appeal) | Australia:MA (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 (theatrical) | Finland:K-15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Manganuioteao River, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand

Company:

Silverscreen Films

Trivia:

Vincent Ward went to great lengths to obtain the opening and closing shots of diary pages in water, filming them by himself waist-deep in the River Thames in London during post-production.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The film takes place in the early 1860s, but the wedding dress Sarah finds is a style not worn until the 1880s.

Thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing film

Boy did I enjoy River Queen. The scenery was stunning, the acting superb, the story brilliant, and the music was a hauntingly beautiful match to an incredible film. I always thought it would be great if a film was set during the Maori wars that was similar to Michael Mann's "The Last of the Mohicans". Well this it, with shades of Joffe's "The Mission" to boot.

River Queen grabs you and draws you into a world that you only learned about in history books. It does not take sides but portrays the beautiful and the ugly in both sides to the conflict. The chemistry between the main actors is powerful and moving and keeps the people of the story to the fore, stopping them from being engulfed by the powerful images of the war.

I always thought it would take our own Peter Jackson (should be Sir Peter) to make a film of this quality in New Zealand and about New Zealand. But I take my hat off to Vincent Ward. River Queen demonstrates that there is an amazing depth of movie making talent in this small country that time and again punches way above it's weight.