Review of The Water Diviner (2014) by Ola G — 23 Jul 2016

In 1919, just after World War I has ended, Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe), an Australian farmer and water diviner is in limbo. His three sons Arthur (Ryan Corr), Edward (James Fraser), and Henry (Ben O'Toole) served with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at the Battle of Gallipoli four years previously and are presumed dead. After his wife Eliza commits suicide out of grief, Joshua resolves to bring his sons' bodies home and bury them with their mother. Joshua travels to Turkey and stays in a hotel in Istanbul run by war-widowed Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), but is unable to travel to Gallipoli by road. Learning the purpose of his journey, Ayshe tells him to bribe a local fisherman to travel to Gallipoli by boat. When he arrives, Joshua learns that ANZACs are engaged in a mass burial detail and all civilians are banned. Major Hasan (Y?lmaz Erdo?an), a Turkish officer assisting the ANZACs, persuades the ANZAC captain Lt-Col Cyril Hughes (Jai Courtney) to prioritize helping Joshua with his search. After finding Edward and Henry's graves, Joshua sees in his dreams that Arthur survives the battle. Hasan recognizes Joshua's surname and tells him that Arthur may have been taken prisoner...

"The Water Diviner" is Russell Crowe´s debut as a director and too be honest he shows that he has much to learn to master the craft of being a director. The film suffers uninspired and at times amateurish direction that creates a severe limp in the film. Apparently a big hit back home in Australia with praise from both audiences and critics alike as the story of the patriotic battle of Gallipoli and the aftermath is something emotional and strong in the hearts of Australians. However, it fails to emotionally engage you as the whole project suffers from as said an amateurish vibe unfortunately with poor dialogue, poor acting and all the clichés you can imagine. As in other cases "The Water Diviner" also suffers from not knowing what it wants to be. Is it a family drama, a love story, a war piece? There´s quite nice cinematography on display in the film, but then again if the rest isn´t up to scratch that doesn´t really matter as it drops of the map in the film. This is just a hit and miss with an interesting backstory but fails in every way to communicate it properly to an audience. Better luck next time Mr. Crowe.