River Queen

Infobox_Film
name = River Queen


director = Vincent Ward
writer = Vincent Ward
starring =Samantha Morton
Kiefer Sutherland
Cliff Curtis
Temuera Morrison
Anton Lesser
producer = Chris Auty
music = Karl Jenkins
cinematography =
editing =
country = flagicon|NZL New Zealand
distributor = flagicon|NZL 20th Century Fox
released = 2005
runtime = 114 min
budget = $15,000,000
language = English
imdb_id = 0388377: "For the ferryboat "River Queen", see River Queen (steamboat)."

"River Queen" is a 2005 New Zealand film directed by Vincent Ward and starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland and Cliff Curtis. The film opened to mixed reviews and performed well at the local box-office.

Plot summary

New Zealand, 1868. Sarah O’Brien (Samantha Morton) has grown up among soldiers in a frontier garrison on Te Awa Nui, the Great River. Pregnant at 16 by a young Maori boy, she gives birth to a son. When, 7 years later, her son, Boy, is kidnapped by his Maori grandfather, Sarah is distraught.

Abandoned by her soldier father, Sarah’s life becomes a search for her son. Her only friend, Doyle (Kiefer Sutherland) is a broken-down soldier without the means to help her.

Lured to the ill rebel chief Te Kai Po’s village by the chance to see her child, Sarah finds herself falling in love with Boy’s uncle, Wiremu (Cliff Curtis) and increasingly drawn to the village way of life.

Using medical skills she learned from her father, Sarah heals Te Kai Po (Temuera Morrison) and begins to reconcile with her son (Rawiri Pene). But her idyllic time at the village is shattered when she realises that she has healed the chief only to hear him declare war on the Colonials, men she feels are her friends, her only family. Her desperation deepens when she realises that Boy intends to prove himself in war, refusing to go back down river with her.

As the conflict escalates Sarah finds herself at the centre of the storm, torn by the love she feels for Boy and Wiremu, anguished over the attachments she still has to the white man’s world, and sickened by the brutality she witnesses on either side.

And when the moment comes, Sarah must choose where she belongs; will she be forced back into the white man’s way of life, or will she have the courage to follow the instincts that are telling her where she truly belongs? [http://www.black-magic.co.nz/home/?page_id=5]

Cast

Trivia

* River Queen topped the New Zealand Box Office on its first Weekend of release.
* Director Vincent Ward was dismissed from the film towards the end of the shoot to be replaced by cinematographer Alun Bollinger and then in an unusual reversal, was rehired just weeks later for six months of editing and additional shooting in both New Zealand and England.
* Sam Neill was originally favoured by Vincent Ward to be cast in a leading role, but he declined.
*Shortland Street actor Kiel McNaughton was a stuntman.
*River Queen features the song Danny Boy sung in Maori and English. The movie is set in 1868, and the lyrics for Danny Boy were written in 1910 and adapted to the traditional Irish melody Londonderry Air. It is possible the melody was known in Aotearoa at the time, but another 42 years were to pass before the lyrics were written by Frederick Weatherly.

Awards and recognition

* 25th Fair International Film Festival, 2007
** Best Artistic Achievements Award

New Zealand Screen Awards 2006

*Won: Best Achievement in Cinematography : Alun Bollinger
*Won: Best Achievement in Costume Design : Barbara Darragh
*Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role : Cliff Curtis
*Nominated: Best Achievement in Production Design : Rick Kofoed
*Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role : Samantha Morton
*Nominated: Best Performance by Actor in a Supporting Role : Rawiri Pene
*Nominated: Best Picture : Don Reynolds, Chris Auty

Shanghai International Film Festival 2006

*Won: Golden Goblet, Best Music : Karl Jenkins

External links

*imdb title|id=0388377|title=River Queen
* [http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3429/artsbooks/5408/watery_grave.html "Listener" review]
* [http://www.lumiere.net.nz/reader/item/389 The Lumiere Reader]