River Queen-Rated M (NZ/UK, 2005)
Part One
Language-English/Maori
Genre– Adventure/Historical Drama/Women’s Film.
Running Time– 114 minutes.
Director -Vincent Ward.
Screenplay-Vincent Ward and Toa Fraser.
Story-Vincent Ward.
Additional Material- Shane Connaughton.
Cast:
Samantha Morton– Sarah O’Brien
Keifer Sutherland-Doyle
Temuera Morrison-Te Kaipo
Anton Lesser –Baines
Rawiri Pene-Boy
1
Stephen Rea-Francis
Wiki Kuki Kaa-Old Rangi
Uncle Wiremu-Cliff Curtis
Cinematographer-Allan Bollinger.
Music-Karl Jenkins.
Editor– Ewa J. Lind.
Production Design– Rick Kofoed.
Producer– Chris Auty, Don Reynolds.
Executive producers– Geoff Dixon, Neil Peplow, James D. Stern, Eric Watson,
Mark Hotchin.
Co-Producers– Tainui Stephens; Richard Fletcher.
A Silverscreen films and Film Consortium presentation in association with
Endgame entertainment, New Zealand film production Fund, the Film Consortium
and U.K Film Council, Capital Pictures and Wayward Films.
New Zealand Release Date: Jan 26th2006
Thailand: 23 Feb 2006 (Bangkok Int Film Festival)
Canada Release Date: Sept 12th 2006(Toronto Film Festival)
Netherlands: 17th Sept 2006(Film by the Sea Film Festival)
UK Release Date: May 2007
Australian Release Date: July 6th 2006.
Australian Distributor: 20th Century Fox.
Video Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Video Release: November 8th 2006.
Film festivals:
Bangkok International Film Festival –Feb2006
2
Shanghai Film Festival– 17th-25th June 2006.
Toronto Film Festival– 7th-18th Sept 2006.
Film by the Sea Film Festival- Sept 2006
Awards:
Golden Goble: (2006)-best music-Karl Jenkins at Shanghai International Film
Festival.
Vincent Wards Other Filmography:
2003-The Last Samurai: Executive Producer.
1998-What Dreams May Come: Director/ Short Story with Louis Nowra.
1993-Map of the Human Heart: Co– Producer/Director/Screenwriter.
1992-Alien 3: Short Story Author.
1988-The Navigator: A medieval Odyssey: Director/Screenwriter.
1984 -Vigil: Director/Screenwriter.
1981– In Spring One Plants Alone: Director.
Details of Interviews:
http://www.abc.net.au/at the movies/txt/s1674857.html.
In Margaret Pomerananz interview with Vincent Ward, he discusses the parallel
between the screen Actress Sarah’s struggle and the actual struggle that the film crew
experienced during the making of River queen. “You know; there is a war going on in
the film. It’s an adventure story and everything that the woman goes through is
against the odds. Everything we went through was definitely against the odds. ...We
had the worst winter in 30years in New Zealand history, a local town went under
water and mud and they're not resurrecting it. We had the lead actress sick for six
weeks, and the whole film closed down when we ran out of things to shoot that she
wasn’t in. Ward goes on to describe Cliff Curtis’s (Uncle Wiremu) car accident, 100
booked extras unable to work because the river flooded overnight, his dismissal and
re-hiring, and conflict with the main actress Samantha Morton. (Sarah O’Brien).
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Reviews:
At The Movies-Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton:
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1674857.htm
Margaret: “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. … Ward’s worlds are always fascinating but his characters
are not always empathetic and his narrative sometimes elliptical. ...but visually,
historically, culturally, he ventures into dramatic and exciting territory…” (***1/2)
David: “I loved Vincent Ward’s early films, Vigil and The Navigator and Map of the
Human Heart, so much, and I’d heard this was a troubled film and so I was hoping
that it turned out okay. I was so disappointed that it really hasn’t…’ (**)
IMDbPro.com; hyyp://www.imbdb.com/title/tt0388377/companycredits
Moria; The Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film Review- Richard Scheib:
http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/riverqueen.htm
This is one of the most comprehensive reviews and gives River Queen **
Also on this site are reviews of other Vincent Ward films including; The
Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey*** and What Dreams May Come*****
Richard Schwab:
“I have maintained for many years now that Vincent Ward is one of the great,
underrated directors in the world. …It is not quite so easy to pinpoint River Queen's
problems. The plot feels like a distillation from two previous New Zealand filmsGeoff Murphy's Maori Wars epic Utu (1983) and it’s telling the story on a wide
canvas from different sides of the conflict, and Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993)
about a determined woman in a colonial era New Zealand and her tempestuous
romantic quandaries.”
Variety.com-By Scott Foundas: http://www.variety.com/index.asp
layout=print_review&reviewid =VE1117928370&categoryid=31
Urban Cinefile –by Andrew L Urban:
http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?Article_ID=11972&p=y
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“An ambitious Film from a talented, serious-minded Vincent Ward, River Queen
takes up the magnificent heart of New Zealand, both geographically and spiritually.”
Note- Go through the Med231 website to access full review.
Sydney Morning Herald– by Paul Byrnes: http://smh.com.au/news/film reviews/river-queen/2006/07/05/1151779008953.html
“Vincent Ward spent almost six years setting up River Queen, a sweeping epic set
during the Maori wars of the 1860’s but that’s not unusual for him. He’s not just New
Zealand’s most self-conscious and eccentric film-maker, he’s of its least
prolific….Given the strife, it’s a wonder the film isn’t a complete disaster. In fact, it’s
more like a fascinating failure. Much of the story is incoherent, the relationships
murky and unresolved. Morton’s character Sarah O’Brien is more like a cork on the
waters than a queen of the river, but the film has undeniable majesty and a powerful
physical presence. It has such stunning locations that you may worry less about it
making sense. The sensory stimulation is almost enough.” (***)
Hollywood Reporter.com-by Michael Rechtshaffen (screened at the Toronto
Film
Festival):
http://hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_id=1001218417
891 ABC Adelaide: http://www.abc.net.au/adelaide/stories/s1681855.htm
It is very apparent that many reviewers are passionate about Ward’s work and
therefore have great expectations of River Queen. Many reviews cover
extensively cover other films Ward has written and/or directed. It is clear that
Ward holds a position of respect within the film industry as an independent film
maker. Many reviews contain reference to and appreciation of Ward’s previous
work.
Nick Prescott:
“It was the haunting Map of the Human Heart (1993) that really sold me on Ward’s
gifts as a writer /director. An eerie and deeply moving study of a cross cultural
romance that played out its story across beautifully chosen European and Arctic
locations, the film was moody, romantic and beautifully directed. As a devotee of the
film I had high hopes for ward’s new movie River Queen. ….River Queen plays itself
out as a romantic fable of lost love and high adventure. Ward’s beautifully composed
images give the story a genuinely ravishing picture-book quality; far from being
simple eye candy, the film’s images have a haunting power of dreamscapes…”
Inside Film Magazine-: http://www.if.com.au/tools/find.taf?fn=detail&id=13213
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and http://www.if.com.au/press/2005/09/14.html
“The Toronto Film Festival Daily ‘River Queen is as powerful visually as it is
dramatically. That the film succeeds as myth, history and eulogy all at the same time
is a tribute to Ward’s unique gifts as storyteller,” writes Ian Birnie. “Both a moving
love story and a sweeping adventure tale in the tradition of the last Mohicans, Ward’s
film blends real episodes from the country’s colonial past with his personal
experience as the only Pakeha(white New Zealander) in an isolated Maori community
in the late seventies.”
Part Two
Plot Synopsis
River Queen is set in colonial New Zealand in 1868. Sarah O’Brien (Samantha
Morgan) is an Irish settler living with her father and younger sister in a military post
on the banks of a river. Sarah falls in love and then pregnant to a young Maori who
subsequently dies from influenza before Sarah gives birth to their son Boy (Rawiri
Pene). When Boy is 6 years old he is kidnapped by his grandfather Old Rangi (Wiki
Kuki Kaa). Sarah spends the next seven years searching for him, finally finding him
in his uncle Wiremu’s family. Wiremu (Cliff Curtis) is fighting for the British in
fierce intertribal and colonial wars. Boy is reluctant to go with Sarah as he has
become antagonistic towards white people. In addition he is a young man now in the
process of finding his place and identity within the tribe and feels he has to prove
himself on the battlefield. Sarah, who has followed in her fathers footsteps, is now a
soldier-medic and caught between two cultures. Ultimately she must choose between
her people or her son.
A Personal Commentary:
River Queen was always going to be a serious challenge for director/writer Vincent
Ward, on an independent film budget of (13 million US)1. Visually River Queen has
captured New Zealand’s stunningly beautiful landscape with some breathtaking
cinematography by Allun Bollinger the DOP (Director of Photography, who was
1
This is estimated as the film did blow out to a suggested 23 million; however sources do not agree
ranging from 13, 15, 20 and 23 million.
6
given the directors chair when Vincent Ward was fired). New Zealand’s romantic
landscape is caught at its best in sweeping aerial views and long shots up the winding
Manganuoteao River with towering cliffs on each side. The film relies heavily on
Bollinger’s cinematography, being deficient in other areas such as inconsistencies in
the story, lack of character development, and a clear motive.
The overriding message is a fight for survival of family, culture and identity within
the context of a colonial invasion. Vincent Ward explains “... each of these tribes tried
to figure out how they could retain their land and their identity, either by working
with the colonials and the British and fighting their own, or other tribes, or, you know,
fighting the colonials’. People and their relationship to the land and to family”
Although much of the cinematography is stunning, some appears to be handheld
which is distracting and brings more attention to the lack of the character
development and the huge holes in the script that seem to be an ineffectively and
excessively patched by narration from the diary of the main character Sarah O’Brien,
stylistically reminiscent of Ada (Holly Hunter) in the Piano (2000). However Ada had
a reason for her narration; she was unable to speak. The character of Sarah O’Brien is
consequently distant and the viewer is left struggling to empathise with her.
Although River Queen is difficult to categorise into any particular ‘type’, it can
probably be best described as predominantly a war film within the framework of
adventure genre. Ward himself sees it as an adventure film. However, it also has
many characteristics of other genres including Art film, and Women’s
Film/Melodrama. Women’s Film characteristically positions the female protagonist;
in this case Sarah O’Brien, central to the story.2
The representation of women in River Queen varies between the two represented:
cultures Maori and Pakeha (European). The main protagonist Sarah O’Brien is
portrayed as a self– sufficient heroine who does not need a man to survive. The
representation of Maori women, however, is more stereotyped as they are portrayed as
one dimensional and subservient to Maori men. Several scenes portray this clearly
such as the ones where Maori women gather around the chief- Te Kaipo (Temuera
Morrison) to dote on him while he is recovering from illness; The women's whole
purpose is encapsulated in their reverence of the chief and his mainly physical needs.
Again recognised in the scene where Te Kaipo takes another allied chief’s wife to
bed, we see women, depicted as possessions and sexual objects; their character or
motivations are overlooked. This representation has served the purpose of presenting
a more historically/culturally correct although controversial, version of the Maori
2
Garry Gillard, Ten Types of Australian Film, Garry Gillard 2004, Published Murdoch University
,2007
7
chief, avoiding the effect of presenting the Maori warrior as a ‘noble savage’3, which
Ward opposed.
Furthermore, the distinction between Sarah a white woman and the ‘other’ women is
further highlighted as she shares a dream with the chief therefore portraying Sarah as
relatively equal within the context of a monarchical hierarchy, when Te Kaipo
bestows her with the honour of Queen naming her ‘Queenie’.
River Queen in context to Australasian Cinema.
Women heroes in adventure films are not often portrayed in Australasian films4 and
Australia in particular has very few to choose from. However two films noted by
Moran and Vieth5 include Shame (1988) and Rabbit Proof Fence (2001). DeborahLee-Furness plays protagonist Astra in Shame the story of an unconventional young
woman who rides into a remote town (western style) and is confronted with the
towns’ shameful secret; that it condones the rape and mistreatment of women within
its community. Astra takes them on and motivates the women to stand up for
themselves. Moran and Veith explain how women heroes are “always a selfless
champion of others, helping them to help themselves, the stranger is compelled to
move on. To settle would mean surrendering the power of righting wrong,
overcoming oppression, helping the weak.”6
Considering this it is clear that Sarah O’Brien does not fit this construction of a
heroine. Her character is weak in that whenever a problem occurs she is in two minds,
she really is not sure whose side she should be on and this confuses the narrative and
makes her character appear shallow, and somewhat pathetic. Interestingly this is
precisely the “radical ambiguity” that Elasaesser emphasises about melodrama. “In
melodrama the failure to act is paramount, while in genres like the western, (a
subgenre of the adventure film)7 it is action that is stressed.”8
The British came up with the term ‘noble savage’ when they were being beaten by the Maori who
invented trench warfare, It effectively made them look better, however it is a rather patronising term.
3
Tom O’Regan, Australian National Cinema, Routledge ,1996, Prolematising Gender, ‘ Women are
largely excluded from the national myths that legitimate the Australian State’p295
4
5
Albert Moran & Errol Vieth, Film in Australia: An Introduction, Cambridge University
Press,2006,p25-30
6
Ibid,p25
7
Albert Moran & Errol Vieth, Film in Australia: An Introduction, Cambridge University
Press,2006,p16
8
Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press,1992 chp
V,p432
8
In contrast Rabbit Proof Fence which tells the true story of three Aboriginal girls who
walk 1500kms home after escaping from Moore River settlement in Western
Australia; effectively builds the characterisation of the main protagonist Molly
(Evelyn Sampi) and to a lesser extent her sister Daisy (Tiama Sansbury) and cousin
Grace (Laura Monahan). As a result, the audience feels they are involved in their
lives. By the end of the film, the evidence to support their courage, strength,
resourcefulness, and endurance is overwhelming; the audience has no real choice but
to be endeared to the fate of these protagonists and the qualities in them that are
usually reserved for masculinist representations.9
The character of Sarah O’Brien never quite realises the potential of a female heroine
as the script is distracted by too many other characters such as Doyle (Keifer
Sutherland) that use precious screen time to develop relationships that go nowhere
and detract from deepening the audience involvement with the main protagonist’s
dilemma in a meaningful way. The main reason for this is that it’s hard to believe
Sarah is desperate to find her son or keep him like a mother would in this situation.
Sean Damer reiterates this sentiment ‘Morton simply does not exude the desperate,
driven determination to find her son and snatch him away from the Maori that the part
demands.’10 In addition to difficulties with the script, Morton’s performance lacks the
expression you might expect in a desperate situation from an actor of her calibre.
In addition, social problems such as overt racism within the film are motivators for
the protagonist whose choice to integrate into the Maori way of life and identify
herself as such; are perhaps a reflection of her lack of character rather than her
strength of character. Sarah witnesses the brutal abuse of another colonial woman at
the hands of the army whose relationship with a Maori man has been revealed. The
woman is rejected and banished from that society. The message is clear that Sarah
could not be accepted with the knowledge of her interracial relationship (her son).
Sarah chooses to reject her culture and appears to embrace her new identity with the
symbolic act of acquiring a moko (Maori facial tattoo) from her son Boy who is a
tattoo artist; following in the footsteps of his Grandfather the one who evidently stole
him away. However her choice is not believable and seems to be motivated by fear
rather than a desire to embrace Maori culture, further highlighted by conflicting views
in an earlier scene where she admonished Boy for saying he will get a Moko, by
saying he will then be stuck up river for ever.
River Queen takes a welcome glimpse into colonial New Zealand’s history that is
rarely seen. Geoff Murphy’s Utu (1983) is another other well known film that focuses
on these issues. Some of River Queen’s warfare scenes are the best in the film. The
Maori people were fierce warriors and strategically outwitted the British in many
9
Ibid
10
Metro Magazine, no 149, 2006, 48-51(Dr) Sean Damer, Screenwriter/teacher at University of
Auckland, and School of performing and screen arts at UNITEC.
9
battles.11 Te Kaipo (Temuera Morrisons), performance in the chilling scene where he
says, … “My throat is constantly open for the flesh of man”… and several of the
battle scenes effectively express that Maori warriors were a force to reckoned with
and clearly superior in battle at times. However it also establishes the fact that
intertribal disagreements were counterproductive to an ultimate victory.
Vincent Ward’s films have reoccurring themes many of which focus on identity.
Perhaps the strongest single aspect of this is often associated with cross cultural or
interracial relationships such as his film Map of The Human Heart (1992) that depicts
the story of Avik (Jason Scott-Lee) a young Inuit and Albertine (AnneParilland).
Love, War, and Cultural difference intertwine in this moving life story. Unlike River
Queen, Map of a Human Heart succeeds in drawing the viewer into a relationship
with the main protagonists in the way a love story should, by developing depth in the
character that the audience can relate and empathise with. However some critics have
said otherwise.12 Vincent Ward’s films all have a unique artistic flavour that also
characterise aspects of the ‘Art Film’and Auterism.
Ward talks about how he left working on The Last Samurai, after he “became more
interested in the in the woman character and the studio he was dealing with wanted a
film starring a man.”13 Ward says, “I Knew that there were stories even stronger in
my own country that I personally am more connected to so I went searching for those
stories about independent women in the 19th century.”14
Two historical figures from Ward’s research inform the screen story. Firstly, Caroline
“Queenie” Perrett, who was kidnapped by a local Maori after her farmer father
cleared a burial ground in Taranaki to make way for a railway. Perrett (who was
discovered 55 years later) had 5 children and did not wish to return to white society.
Several references to this true story can be seen in River Queen, including Sarah
O’Brien’s Father Francis (Stephen Rea) desecration of a burial site under military
orders, Boys kidnapping and reluctance to return to white society and Sarah O’Brien’s
decision to embrace a Maori life style. Secondly, the story of English nurse Ann
Evans, known as “Doctor Annie” who was literally blindfolded like Sarah and taken
to treat master warrior Titokowaru for pneumonia.15
11
Tara Brabazon , Tracking the Jack,p50 “culture of the Maori warrior”
http://www.moira.co.nz/fantasy/whatdreams.htm ‘Ward lost the plot somewhat with Map of the
Human Hear t (1992), an Inuit romance where his fascination with imagery neglected the film’s
emotional core.’ Richard Scheib
12
13
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10364654 -accessed 26/05/07
14
ibid
15
Ibid.
10
Ward‘s father died during the filming of Map of the Human Heart, and his experience
of living as the only Pakeha in a remote Maori community for two years, coupled with
his reference to his feeling that Maori culture was part of his shared identity as a New
Zealander, is evidence that as the author, his life experience is paramount in telling
the onscreen story.
Robin Wood discusses Auteur theory which… “[Concentrates] attention exclusively
on the fingerprints, thematic or stylistic, of the individual artist…”16 In addition to
identity and culture recurring themes include issues surrounding death. Stylistically
Ward’s films feature the natural environment and his protagonists are usually in
varying struggles with it either physically or spiritually. In addition specific stylistic
symbolic ‘motifs’ occur such as horses. Horses are seen in battle scenes during a
dream in Vigil and again in Map of the Human Heart, The Navigator, as well as River
Queen. Horses seem to become a symbolic vehicle for the protagonist’s realisation of
their dream, either real or imagined, in addition to being a link to the natural
environment. Although Perhaps Ward just likes horses.
Cinematographer Allun Bollinger has worked before with Vincent Ward on A State of
Siege (1978) and Vigil (1984) winning best Cinematographer at the NZ Film and
Television awards.17 He has worked on several of Peter Jackson’s Films, including
Heavenly Creatures (1995) winning a NZ Film& TV award and recently Perfect
Strangers (2003) and Australian film The Oyster Farmer (2005). Andrew L Urban
commented that ‘”Allun Bollinger’s often breathtaking cinematography should win
him a tourism award if not an Oscar…”18
Dr Karl Jenkins OBE, who scored the music for River Queen his first film, won the
Golden Goblet at the Shanghai International Film festival, in 2006 he was listed no 4
amongst British composers, the highest of any living composer and in 2005 was
awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) by the Queen for his ‘services to
music’19
River Queen may have been plagued by crisis (as detailed in some of the reviews) in
production, however that didn’t stop the people of Wanganui coming out in full force
with nearly half the 45,000 celebrating its release in the rain. Media releases quote
River queen as “the number one grossing film at the box office this weekend”
However, although it has had some success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada it
has only just been release in the UK (May 2007) and has not yet found a distributor in
the US. New Zealand film has enjoyed remarkable results for a small country of only
16
Robin Wood, Ideology, Genre, Auteur, Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, Fourth
Edition, Oxford University Press,1992,p475
17
http://imdb.com
18
http://www.urbanciefile.com.au/home/view.asp?Article-ID=11972&p=y
19
http://www.karljenkins.com/biography.php
11
4 million people Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong
Andrew Adamson’s, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion ,The Witch and The Wardrobe,
Niki Whale rider and North Country and The Worlds fastest Indian. Phil Wakefield
reports that “some local filmmakers worry that the government is placing too much
emphasis on high-profile, big budget productions at the expense of New Zealand’s
burgeoning independent-film scene.”… and that the “kiwi industry will never truly
thrive on its own as long as the focus remains on Hollywood”20 If the box office is
any guide there is much support for home grown stories like River Queen and it
should hold an important place in New Zealand’s national cinema as it tells a story
within the framework of a cultural experience distinctly unique to its people, natural
environment and history in a similar way films like Walkabout and Rabbit Proof
Fence create a distinctly Australian national cinema.
References:
There were 26 references to Articles on the university database for journals. I have
referred to 2 articles from Metro Magazine in my assignment. Lynette Read has
published on Indigenous documentary & New Zealand Film and Sean Damer is a
screenwriter and tertiary education teacher. There is no shortage of references on
websites both Australian and New Zealand and I spent many hours reading press
releases, newspaper articles, and reviews to capture a more balanced perspective of
the critical uptake of River Queen. Obviously because of the release date there is
limited academic criticism of River Queen. However I have referenced several film
theory texts.
Brabazon Tara, Tracking the Jack, Sydney University Press, 2000.
Damer Sean, “Drama Queen? The Trouble and Strife of Vincent Ward’s River Queen
Metro Magazine, 149, 2006, 48-51.
Garry Gillard, Ten Types of Australian Films, Garry Gillard 2004.
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
http://nzfilm.co.nz
http://www.abc.net.au
http://www.nznewsuk.co.uk
http://www.variety.com
20
Phil Wakefield, Hollywood Reporter. Feb 28-Mar6, 2006. Vol 393pg19,3pgs
12
http://www.moria.co.nz
http://hollywoodreporter.com
http://www.lumiere.net.nz
http://www.if.com.au
http://movies2.nytimes.com
http://www.urbancinefile.com
http://www.smh.com
http://0-proquest.umi.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au
Mast Gerald, Cohen Marshall, Braudy Leo, Fourth Edition, Ed. Film Theory and
Criticism: Introductory Reading, , Wood Robin, Ideology, Genre, Auteur Oxford
University press,1992.
Moran Albert, Vieth Errol, Film in Australia: An Introduction, Cambridge University
Press, 2006.
O’Regan Tom, Australian National Cinema, Routledge, 1996
Rayner Jonathon Cotemporary Australian Cinema: An Introduction, Manchester
University Press, Manchester, 2000.
Read Lynette, “New Zealand Film: National Identity and the Films of Vincent Ward”
Metro Magazine 148(spring 2006) 124(7) Expanded Academic ASAP Thompson
Gale Murdoch University.
Wakefield Phil, Hollywood Reporter. Feb 28-Mar6, 2006. Vol 393pg19, 3 pgs
Ward Vincent, Director, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyessey, 1988
Ward Vincent, Director, Vigil, 1984
Ward Vincent, Director, Map of the Human Heart, 1992
13