anonreview2 Wow. The cinematography in this movie is truly FANTASTIC. There are lots of truly incredible scenes of the natural beauty of New Zealand's north island. We were very impressed with the camera-work in the scenes where the flags ripple underwater, looking like blood. According to the credits (and the Wikipedia article) it was all filmed on location. And the music is haunting and is still running through my head 24 hours after seeing the movie.Even after traveling to Mauri (native) territory and saving the Mauri chief's life, our heroine is presented as very Pakea (white) in culture and outlook, telling her son she wants to take him to "our home" with the settlers. We found it less than plausible that she wouldn't have expected her 13-year-old son's identification with the Mauri life after 6 years of living with his Mauri grandfather, and by his wanting to go to war (had she never met any teenage boys before?).But that said, one thing we appreciated about this movie is that it didn't glorify the warfare. It didn't show the full blood-and-gore, but there were plenty of dead bodies about. The ending, where the heroine looks back on the futility of the wars, is moving and poignant.We found some of the Irish accents hard to follow, but the DVD offers subtitles.My wife and I have no problems giving this a 10/10.

Noel Brown I grew up in New Zealand, and have some knowledge of the land wars there of the mid-1800's, which continue in different ways right up to the present. I have also been on the Whanganui river, a mysterious and beautiful place. These are the historic and geographic backgrounds for this tantalizing film. Last nite I watched the Brazilian release of the film with English subtitles and language track. The plot issue of the film is simple: in the midst of the Maori/British conflict over land use in the late 1850's, a young Pakeha (in this case Irish) woman (Samantha Morton) becomes pregnant by a young Maori. The growing boy is, in turn, kidnapped by his Maori grandfather. (the boy's father has been killed). The central issue of the film is the mother's search for her son, and whether she will stay and live with him in Maoritanga, or be able to return with him to her British world. Morton (who plays Sarah) has the difficult task of acting out her conflictedness between her Pakeha world and the Maori world of her son. Many reviewers have been critical of her "limited" emotional portrayal, forgetting that not all women live with their emotions on the outside of their life. She is, after all, the daughter of a military surgeon, who has herself become a healer which requires her to suck it up and do what has to be done. Keifer Sutherland (who plays the Irish soldier Doyle)plays a limited part in the film. He appears to have been included as the star-magnet for production finance and audience appeal. Director Vincent Ward gives us great location shots from the central North Island area of New Zealand - mostly long-lens river shots, a few gorgeous aerial shots, supported by action shots in the battle scenes. This film is a period-piece, and has to be seen from that perspective. e.g. it may seem strange that Sarah could find a bridal dress in good condition in a hut the middle of nowhere, unless it is remembered that in that period,such an item would have been the treasured possession of the woman of that hut. (I thought it would have been in a trunk and not hanging up.) Or, again, the chief having intercourse during a battle would not have been symbolic; such an interpretation has lost sight of the period of the film. The film is rushed and disjointed in places, but at 114 minutes long, Ward may have felt he was working against the clock. In spite of that, Ward has captured the anguish of a mother who has a terrible decision to make. He has also drawn attention to the difficult ambivalence of the Maori's themselves who had to decide which side of the land war conflict they were going to be on; which resulted in Maori fighting Maori. In spite of its weaknesses, I found this to be a film that captured much of the difficulty of its period, and many of the choices that had to be made.

dlev18 Wait... wait... wait... wait... wait... wait..... WHAT!? This movie is terrible, absolutely terrible. 1. The only reason Kiefer Sutherland is on the cover is to sell it to Kiefer fans, only to have their hearts broken. He kills one guy, gets shot, and dies before half the movie is over, not to mention he was only in the first 10 min and then disappeared until the point which he died...WHY put him on the cover if his character BLOWS. 2. Where are the EPIC battle scenes promised in the preview on the back cover? 3. It was way too confusing, i mean whats up with the girl? She had to narrate the movie to TRY to get our attention, she failed! 4. If Kiefer dies in a movie..... it fails. Now I am going to go watch 24..... THIS MOVIE FAILS!

sumana-m21 This is by far one the most boring movies I've ever seen! And if you don't believe me go ahead and watch it for yourself.The movie starts of slow, the storyline makes no sense at all. People fighting doesn't make any sense. I could not make sense of what they were talking during the movie (in most cases I didn't even bother) It does nothing to keep you watching the movie, the only plus point would be the cinematography. New Zealand looks awesome. Everything else just plain sucks.The actors try their best to keep us awake, but unfortunately you will go to sleep instead.Do us all a favor, even if this gets on "On Demand", Don't WATCH IT!