River Queen

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River Queen

Directed by	Vincent Ward
Produced by	Chris Auty
Written by	Vincent Ward
Starring	Samantha Morton Kiefer Sutherland Cliff Curtis Temuera Morrison Anton Lesser
Music by	Karl Jenkins
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	2005
Running time	114 min
Country	New Zealand
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000
IMDb profile

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.

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 Awards and recognition
- 4.1 New Zealand Screen Awards 2006
- 4.2 Shanghai International Film Festival 2006
5 External links

[edit] 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?[1]

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Samantha Morton	Sarah O'Brian
Kiefer Sutherland	Doyle
Cliff Curtis	Wiremu
Anton Lesser	Baine
Temuera Morrison	Te Kai Po
Danielle Cormack	Viola
Stephen Rea	Francis

[edit] Trivia

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

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.

[edit] Awards and recognition

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