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Released: 9 June 2008
Based on an original story by New Zealand filmmaker Vincent Ward (The Navigator, What Dreams May Come) River Queen features a realistic shaky hand-held method to bring forth a theme of harsh reality to the powerful storyline.
A young Irishwoman Sarah O’Brien (Samantha Morton) brings her family into disrepute when she falls pregnant to a handsome Maori man, who tragically passes away from illness before the baby is born. Abandoned by her father, a soldier in the British colonial army, Sarah finds herself all alone to face impending motherhood and life as an outcast in a community wrought by conflict between the indigenous Maori people and the marauding colonists.
Seven years on, Sarah’s young son, Boy, is suddenly kidnapped by his Maori grandfather who is eager for him to return to his native roots. Devastated, Sarah’s life becomes a search for her son with the help of her only friend, a disillusioned, broken-down soldier, Doyle (Kiefer Sutherland).
She discovers her son living in a local Maori village with his grandfather Te Kai Po (Temuera Morrison). Slowly she begins to reconcile with her estranged son (Rawiri Pene) and finds herself increasingly drawn by the tranquility of village life and the sense of community and love she has been pining for.
This competition is now over. The winners are as follow:
Joanne Bell, Co. Down, BT20 4DA,
Tracy Gladman, Essex SS7
Robin Hooper, Surrey, GU16
