Russell Crowe doubles as director and lead actor in Australia’s latest global contender, The Water Diviner, bringing something to the world which deals with the hellish Battle of Gallipoli, Australia’s most impactful war and the primary reason for our national day of mourning – ANZAC day. While the story may be a bit too complex to deal with from Crowe’s point of view, the film instead gives a reverent nod to the horrible ordeal and focuses on the aftermath, zoning in on one man – Joshua Conner (Crowe) – who is struggling to deal with the loss of all three of his sons on August 7, 1915, who were killed during the battle on Lone Pine with the Ottoman Empire.
Conner and his wife Eliza (Jacqueline McKenzie) live a life of solitude and supposed madness following the death of all three of their children years ago, a mourning which is augmented by Eliza’s suicide within the film’ first 10 minutes. Connor sets off on an ambitious and single-minded pilgrimage to Gallipoli with the aim of finding the remains of his sons and bringing them home to rest alongside their mother. The more profound aspect of the film lies here, focusing on the importance and relevance of honouring the dead and allowing them the identity and recognition they deserve so that they aren’t just nameless bones in a mass grave. This is what gives The Water Diviner it’s heart and soul, straining against more cliche avenues for sentimentality, a hammy half-love story, and some forced pieces of action.
While Crowe gives an outstanding, tender performance alongside some very adept support acts, it’s the need to jazz up the film to awkward action-status that weighs upon the heart-warming centre.
Conner’s arrival in Istanbul, a place now fraught with British military, marks a necessary base for the film and introduces us to most of the cast, an overly excited child (Dylan Georgiades) and his widow mother (Olga Kurylenko , being the most effective. These two are found within a charming family hotel were we are introduced to the film’s second source of drama, a slow burning love story between himself and Ayshe (the widow mother).
With help from the child and his mother, Conner arrives to his destination, drawing upon his uncanny intuition – coming from his character who is based on a supposedly real water diviner – to locate the boys quite quickly only to open up more mystery and political intrigue which leads to him finding out that one of the boys, Art (Ryan Corr) was taken prisoner and is possibly still alive.
Flashbacks with graphic war scenes are cut into the movie at unexpected times, slowly revealing the fate of the three boys, to which Corr gives a brief, show-stealing performance as a soldier looking out for his brothers. It’s a surprisingly emotional scene, and one which isn’t completely effective until the very last second.
Yilmaz Erdogan slowly plays into the plot as Major Hasan, a participant in the war who goes on the help Conner in his ambitious quest. It’s here where Crowe gets to further his reverence for both sides of the battle, venturing into a complex web of politics and a different kind of war to slowly segue into the more action-laced parts of The Water Diviner. The occupying Greeks in Anatolia rapidly move into the centre of the film and bring with them shallow antagonists to raise the stakes, but the whole thing feels like a rushed play at a blockbuster finish.
Making good use of the vast landscape from Victoria to Istanbul to Anatolia ensures the film is never wanting for visual appeal, spanning some truly incredibly shots and juxtaposing them against some very well-executed battle flashbacks to showcase Crowe’s confidence and ambition as a director.
While the story will make you think, and it will touch a bit deeper than you might expect, The Water Diviner ultimately suffers from trying to condense an epic into a 111 minute feature while attempting to satisfy a range of tastes from those craving some action to those craving a budding love story. At the end, neither action nor love is what The Water Diviner will be remembered for; it will be remembered for it’s compassionate family drama.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 111 minutes
The Water Diviner is in cinemas now
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