Product Details

• Actors: Anton Lesser, Temuera Morrison, Stephen Rea, Kiefer Sutherland, Vincent Ward
• Directors: Vincent Ward, Alun Bollinger
• Format: Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Weinstein Company
• DVD Release Date: November 25, 2008
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001DJ7PZK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,086 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Kiefer Sutherland sporting a kilt and a laughable Irish accent and beautiful scenery gorgeously photographed are but two of the attractions in River Queen, a 2005 film that earned considerable acclaim in New Zealand, where it was produced, but was never released theatrically in the United States. Set in the 1860s, writer-director Vincent Ward’s tale stars Samantha Morton as Sarah O’Brien, a young Englishwoman who travels with her father (a cameo by Stephen Rea) to New Zealand, where the nasty imperialists are stealing the land and trampling the culture of the indigenous Maori. A brief and dangerous liaison with a young native (who soon dies) leaves her with a child known only as "Boy." When the six-year-old’s Maori grandfather kidnaps him, Sarah embarks on a seven-year odyssey to find him, a search that finally ends when a warrior named Wiremu (Cliff Curtis) offers to take her to him if she will use her healing powers to cure the Maori chief of his "coughing sickness." And so it goes, with Sarah discovering that her son is torn between his two heritages while she herself is attracted to both Wiremu and the soldier (Sutherland) who defends her--all while the Maori "rebels" and their colonial oppressors are battling it out in the woods and along the rivers of this untamed wilderness. The idea is basically sound; the battles scenes are well staged, and Alun Bollinger’s cinematography is wondrous (although it’s sometimes so color-saturated as to suggest an overripe Thomas Kinkaid painting). But in his quest to create a great, sprawling epic, Ward too often goes way over the top, as a surfeit of heaving breasts, manly chests, searching looks, and fraught dialogue, all to set to the sounds of heavenly choirs, bring to mind a Harlequin romance scored by Enya. Most tellingly, much of the narrative exposition is delivered by Morton in voice-over, usually an indication that the script was lacking in the first place. --Sam Graham

Product Description

RIVER QUEEN - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Zealand colonial wars film that had its own "wars"., January 12, 2007

By 

Charles Eggen (Springfield, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River Queen [Import] (DVD)

This historical drama, set in 1860s New Zealand, focuses on the Whanganui River valley
and an Irish settler's seven year effort in trying to find her son, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather.
All this while colonials and Maori are engaged in guerrilla-style warfare. This is probably Vincent Ward's
best film to date and probably the best Maori themed film yet made. The settings and photography
alone are worth viewing, even though the film is not perfect. I was left with the feeling that some further
improvements were needed with editing. But given the many production problems, there may have been
some filming needs that were not fulfilled. Very much worth experiencing.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This battlefield was behind the scenes as well as on the screen., November 16, 2008

By 

Charles Eggen (Springfield, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River Queen (DVD)

This historical drama, set in 1860s New Zealand, focuses on the beautiful Whanganui River valley and a widowed Irish settler's seven year effort in trying to find her half-caste son, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather. All the while, colonials and Maori are engaged in guerrilla-style warfare. This is probably Ward's best film to date and probably the best Maori themed film yet made. The settings and photography alone are worth the viewing, even though the film is not perfect. I was left with the feeling that some further improvements were needed with editing. But given the production problems, there may have been some filming needs that were not fulfilled. Very much worth seeing.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars We All Go Down That River..., November 25, 2008

By 

Aaron Gutsell (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: River Queen (DVD)

"A word for you. Cease traveling on the roads. Stop forever the going on the roads lest you be left there as food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; or for me. Because I have eaten the European as beef. He was cooked in a pot and the women and children partook of the food. I have begun to eat human flesh. My throat is constantly open for the flesh of man. I shall not die. I shall not die. When death itself is dead I shall be alive."

Temuera Morrison delivers his lines with the equanimity and menace he uniquely combines as Te Kai Po, a rebellious Maori chief. For its U.S. release 'River Queen' was stuck with a B-movie cover that camouflages the Grade A story within. Pitched as a Kiefer Sutherland vehicle by the jacket, it is easy to miss many of New Zealand's heaviest hitters beneath: Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison, and director Vincent Ward. Samantha Morton is a strong lead, backed up by Stephen Rea and a creditable Irish accent by Sutherland, who plays Private Doyle.

The story revolves around a mother (Morton) searching for her kidnapped child amidst the Maori warring against settlers during the 1860s. The fern-choked muddiness of 'River Queen' evokes 'The Piano' but it is a story that goes down a river; a meandering, primeval tract of green reminiscent of 'Apocalypse Now' where Sarah meets her own Kurtz. Cunning battle tactics developed by the outnumbered Maori are well depicted, and enemy musket shots are often little more than flashes lost amid the verdant undergrowth.
Cultural references throughout the movie are globally relevant today; the moko form of tattoo and tikis are abundant, and there are several excellent hakas, the war dances that are now becoming popular with West Coast college football teams. Maori spoken throughout is mostly translated, but sometimes input is demanded from the audience, such as a phrase made obvious by a hand gesture that goes untranslated. The London Philharmonic provides a strong musical backdrop over which to tell the tale, and the only negative is a subtle current of unease that runs through 'River Queen', a vague sense of the production problems that always seem to plague visionary directors like Terry Gilliam, or in this case, Vincent Ward.