River Queen

[Aliantha]

I saw this movie last night and was simply enthralled by it. I thought it was brilliant. Has anyone else seen it?

Here's a review:

River Queen
Review by Margaret Pomeranz

Vincent Ward is an antipodean film maker whose work you are just always interested in. He has an imagination like no other and this is confirmed with his latest film River Queen.

In 1860’s New Zealand a young Irish woman Sarah, (SAMANTHA MORTON), falls pregnant to a young Maori. Her son, Boy, is kidnapped at the age of seven by his Maori grandfather.

Inheriting some of the skills of her soldier-medic father, played by Stephen Rea, she seizes the chance to search for her son when the Maori chief, (TEMUERA MORRISON), falls ill. Sarah finds herself adapting to village life and into an intriguing relationship with Boy’s uncle Wiremu, (CLIFF CURTIS).

This ambitious but troubled project explores the impact of white colonialism on indigenous life, resulting in a war in which Sarah finds herself
torn between conflicting loyalties.

Vincent Ward’s worlds are always fascinating but his characters are not always empathetic and his narrative sometimes elliptical. You feel always with this film on the outside looking in, it’s hard to empathise with a character as fey as Sarah.

But visually, historically, culturally, he ventures into dramatic and exciting territory so that while you may not be emotionally involved you are certainly riveted by events and by the richness of what is offered.