Russell Crowe has been making films for 25 years and has worked with plenty of great directors, including Ridley Scott, Michael Mann and Ron Howard. He finally got the directing bug, making The Water Diviner. Released in his native Australia in 2014, the film became a monster hit there and even won Best Picture at the Australian Academy of Cinema and TV Arts Awards. Warner Bros. gave the film a small release in the U.S. in April, which makes perfect sense. An American audience will have to read some World War I history before even attempting to understand the film.
Crowe cast himself in the lead role of Joshua Connor, a farmer and water diviner (which means he finds groundwater in desolate places), whose three sons died in the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I four years prior to the start of the film. The battle was devastating, particularly to the ANZAC forces who fought there and Connor’s sons were never found. This haunts Connor and his wife Eliza (Jacqueline McKenzie). After Eliza commits suicide, Connor finds no other reason to stay in Australia, so he travels to Turkey to find his sons’ bodies.
When he arrives there, he learns that the British have made it very hard for anyone to visit Gallipoli, nevermind a random farmer. He goes there anyway (because he’s Russell freaking Crowe) and finds the bodies of two of his sons immediately. Where is the third? His further adventures on this quest help him learn that the Ottomans and Turks aren’t so bad (well... only if you ignore the Armenian Genocide, which this film gladly does).
Had The Water Diviner been about a British farmer or an American, this would be your typical Oscar bait. And even though it wasn’t, it still plays like that. The script by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios is emotionally manipulative at every turn and when they can’t figure out how to make you cry, they can’t figure out where to take the film. For about 20 minutes in the heart of the movie - after Connor finds his first two sons are dead - the plot just kind of dangles out there, rather than quickly finding a way to get Connor back on track to find his third son.
The film is simply at its best with action scenes. Crowe clearly learned a lot from Scott while filming Gladiator 15 years ago, so the fighting is expertly directed. Crowe and the late cinematographer Andrew Lesnie (who shot the Lord of the Rings films) get the camera right in on the action. It’s bloody, violent and visceral, all qualities missing from the rest of The Water Diviner.
Crowe also could have done a bit more studying on how to direct actors. Olga Kurylenko, who plays Ayshe, a widow who works at the hotel Connor stays at, struggles to convey much emotion. She’s the actress you get when Marion Cotillard is unavailable. The best supporting player in the film is probably Ayshe’s son (Dylan Georgiades), who Connor connects with better than Ayshe. You can also spot Terminator Genisys’ Jai Courtney as the one Australian officer in Gallipoli who likes helping Connor. He gets to keep his Australian accent this time.
The Water Diviner hits Blu-ray from Warner Bros. on Tuesday, July 28 with just two features. First up is a 20-minute making-of and then there’s a seven-minute piece on the historical context behind the film. It’s actually quite fascinating and a must-see. I’d even suggest watching it before the film to better understand what the Battle of Gallipoli was.
The Water Diviner isn’t a bad film at all, or boring and dull. It’s just that the film is incredibly targeted at a specific audience on its surface. But if this was actually about a father looking for sons who fought at Gettysburg, we would easily get it. However, The Water Diviner just isn’t as entertaining as it should be, as deviations from the “father searches for sons” storyline slows it to a halt too often.