Almost Perfect

Rating: 10/10 (23 January 2015)

This movie managed to satisfy my thirst for a genuine war film. As a historian and a cinephile, I must say it even exceeded my expectations. Standing ovation for Mr Crowe!
Water Diviner contained a gripping story, brilliant cues and amazing scenes as well as a fresh approach to the events of WWI, all of which will stay embroidered in my memory for the rest of my days. Acting was pretty solid. Especially the performance of the local comedy star Cem Yilmaz was impressive and some hilarious moments he offered stood as a fine contrast to the general melancholia of the scenes.
Some of the user reviews here on IMDb accused the production as falsely depicting historical events. Most of these strange reviews contained the same copy/pasted lines that had nothing to do with facts. I've done my finishing thesis on the World Wars and I know enough to say there has never been a genocide of minorities in Turkey. These minorities wouldn't be "minorities" if (as claimed by a few users here) their numbers could be measured by millions. If you add the numbers up, the total "death toll" would be almost higher than the entire Ottoman population :) And the assertion that the Greek were sent to Western Anatolia just to protect the Christian population there... utter nonsense! The Greek troops were merely tongs of the British army who were too wise to handle the fire themselves. They were there to occupy those lands and they committed lots of atrocities, burning down Turkish villages even as they retreated from the battlefield. The movie depicts them as what they really are.
All in all, a definite recommend to any war movie fan out there. This was one journey to remember!