Review of The Water Diviner (2014) by Manny C — 18 May 2015

Movies seldom pull you in so skillfully as The Water Diviner. This is one from the heart for actor and debuting director Russell Crowe. Crowe is Joshua Connor, an Australian farmer who travels to Turkey four years after the World War I battles at Gallipoli to locate his three sons. It was the dying wish of his wife, Eliza (Jacqueline McKenzie) to bring them all home, even if it's for burial.

Inspired by a true story, the script from Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios, his clearly channeling war classics such as Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan and most obviously Peter Weir's Gallipoli, to often conventional and sentimental effect. But Crowe's keen directorial eye makes sure to keep the focus on the harsh reality. That includes harrowing flashbacks to the doomed battle where Australian and New Zealand forces were slaughtered by Turkish fighters. One scene, showing the Connor brothers--Arthur (Ryan Corr), Henry (Ben O'Toole) and Edward (James Fraser)--on the battlefield, is absolutely scarring.

The title is a reference to Connor's mystical gift as a water diviner, being able to locate water and other goods underground. That he may also be able to locate the remains of his sons adds symbolic weight that Crowe wisely doesn't hammer over our heads.

Connor's first task is to rout obstacles and get to Gallipoli. While in Constantinople, he books a hotel run by a Muslim widow, Ayshe (the lovely Olga Kurylenko). The script tends to try and build a contrived bond between Connor and Ayshe and her young son, but it's well played nonetheless.

The film discovers its grieving heart in Connor's relationship with the enemy in the form of Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan, excellent), a Turkish officer who aids Connor in getting past the roadblocks erected by British and Australian forces led by officer Cyril Hughes (a terrific Jai Courtney), who is in charge of the Imperial War Graves unit. Why is he helping Connor? 'He's the only father who came looking.'.

With The Water Diviner, Crowe attempts to strike a universal chord about war's futility and obscenity. Too simple? Perhaps, but in ccrafting a film about a parent's grief after losing a child to war, Crowe transcends borders and politics to honor, not war, but needless sacrifice and unbearable loss. It's quite an admirable achievement.