River Queen

River Queen (2005)

With darkness all around, only the heart can see where the forest meets the river.

In 1860s New Zealand, a young Irish woman desperately trying to find her son finds herself caught on both sides of the lines during the wars between Māori tribes and the British colonial army.

Date of release
2005-09-12
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (39)
Runtime
1h 54m
Genres
Adventure, War
Director
Vincent Ward

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: New Zealand

River Queen is a 2005 war drama film written and directed by Vincent Ward and starring Samantha Morton, Kiefer Sutherland, Cliff Curtis, Temuera Morrison and Stephen Rea. The film garnered mixed reviews but performed well at the box office in New Zealand.

Production

Sam Neill was originally favoured by Vincent Ward to be cast in a leading role, but he declined.

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. Primary filming was done on the Whanganui River.

The film features the song "Danny Boy" sung in Māori and English. The film 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 New Zealand at the time, but another 42 years were to pass before the lyrics were written by Frederic Weatherly.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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