The Water Diviner (2014)

"A father's journey in search of his sons."

Directed by Russell Crowe
Produced by Troy Lum, Andrew Mason, Keith Rodger
Written by Andrew Anastasios, Andrew Knight
Starring: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney, Cem Yılmaz, Yılmaz Erdoğan
Music by David Hirschfelder
Cinematography: Andrew Lesnie
Edited by Matt Villa
Production company: Fear of God Films, Hopscotch Features
Distributed by Universal Studios, Entertainment One, Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date: 26 December 2014 (Australia/Turkey)
Running time: 111 minutes
Country: Australia, Turkey, United States

"The Water Diviner" is a war drama film directed by Russell Crowe and written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight. The film tells the story of an Australian farmer, Connor, who travels to Turkey to find his three missing sons after the Battle of Gallipoli, in 1919. He finds his sons' graves, and finds evidence that one might still be alive.

Cast

• Russell Crowe as Joshua Connor
• Olga Kurylenko as Ayshe
• Dylan Georgiades as Orhan
• Yılmaz Erdoğan as Major Hasan
• Cem Yılmaz as Sergeant Jemal
• Jai Courtney as Lt-Col Cyril Hughes
• Ryan Corr as Arthur Connor
• Jacqueline McKenzie as Eliza Connor
• Isabel Lucas as Natalia
• Mert Firat as Mil. officer
• Daniel Wyllie as Captain Charles Brindley
• Damon Herriman as Father McIntyre
• Megan Gale as Fatma
• Deniz Akdeniz as Imam
• Steve Bastoni as Omer
• James Fraser as Edward Connor
• Ben O'Toole as Henry Connor

This film marks the directorial debut of Russell Crowe ("Les Misérables" (2012)). From my point of view, it turned out so excellent that I was absolutely surprised. A dramatic story, an unusual plot, a good acting, beautiful landscapes and terrible scenes of the First World War - all of these are shown in the film. All in all, the picture impressed me more that I'd expected.

Russell Crowe performed the role of Joshua Connor, a man who lost his whole family. However, then he gets a ray of hope that luckily becomes the reality. As Russell Crowe is one of my favourite actors, no wonder that his acting made me believe his character. But it depended not only on my preconceived notion - he exposed a weakness of a strong man that wasn't easy anyway. Olga Kurylenko as Ayshe annoyed me at first, but then I saw a depth of her heroine and I got to imbue.

Advantages

• Russell Crowe as Joshua Connor
• Olga Kurylenko as Ayshe
• The story

Disadvantages

• A little bit slow moving

"Strangenesses"

• Love can appear even during staying at the enemy side

Clue Moments

• Death
• Love

"The Water Diviner" has many topics to think about. First of all, hope may change a someone's life to the best or to the worst. It can poison, it can tire out, it can kill. But at the same time hope has a possibility to recover to life.

Is it awful to kill a human if he or she asks for it? If a person suffers from a severe pain and will die whatever the case? Personally I still don't have the answer.

A war changes everything. For example, a way of live, an ideology. And only a person decides what to do with it: to break or to become stronger.

There are two remarkable details in film: water and faith. Joshua Connor, in contrast to his wife, doesn't belong to any religion, However, when tries to attack a man who, Connor thinks, has killed his son, Joshua is struck with a cross. As for water, that was the purpose of the main character, he was searching for it for four years, trying not to deaden pain. But then exactly water, ice water, saves him and his alive son.

The film covered the events of World War I, especially the Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale. According to Wikipedia, it was a campaign of World War I that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916. The peninsula forms the northern bank of the Dardanelles, a strait that provides a sea route to what was then the Russian Empire, one of the Allied powers during the war. Intending to secure it, Russia's allies Britain and France launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula with the eventual aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). The naval attack was repelled and, after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign also failed and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt.

The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war and a major Allied failure. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nation's history: a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli. The campaign is often considered as marking the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand and the date of the landing, 25 April, is known as "Anzac Day" which is the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in those two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).

Quotations

* * *

Connor: Are there any more records about my son?
Jemal: We are Ottomans, not Germans.

* * *

Lt-Col Cyril Hughes: What were you doing before the war?
Major Hasan: This is Ottoman Empire, there is no such a thing as before the war here. But in another life I was an architect.

* * *

You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 7/10

Entertainment: 7/10

Acting: 7/10

Originality: 8/10

Music and Sound: 7/10

7/10