A poetic vision

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2015)

I remember the impact Peter Weir's "Gallipoli" had on the audience in the suburban cinema where I first saw it in 1981. That battle is so much a part of the Australian national conscience that the affect of the scenes at Gallipoli was electric. Something we had only read about or heard about was brought to life before our eyes.
Now Russell Crowe has made a film that is a companion to that brilliant film except this one is about the impact Gallipoli had on the families the soldiers left behind - on both sides.
Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) journeys to Turkey to search for the bodies of his three sons presumed killed during the attack on Lone Pine. Although meeting resistance from the British and Australian authorities, he is helped by Turks who were in the opposing trenches during the war.
The big surprise is that "The Water Diviner" reveals Russell Crowe as a filmmaker with a poetic vision. He has learnt his craft well during his journey through film. Directing a movie as well as acting in it is a big call, but the effort doesn't show, and he has an instinct for big scenes as well as intimate ones. Although "The Water Diviner" heads a bit too suddenly into action-adventure territory about two-thirds of the way through, the film is beautifully made and has something to say about loss and the universality of suffering in war.
Crowe intersperses his story with scenes of the Connor boys during the fighting at Gallipoli - rather than historically accurate, they are more impressions of the fighting. However, the film starts with something we haven't seen before when the Turks attack to discover empty trenches after the British and Anzacs have evacuated the peninsular. Another unusual aspect of the film is the depiction of the situation in Turkey after the war with the British occupation force and the war with the Greeks.
I would never complain about Olga Kurylenko being in a movie, but her role and that of her son seems a little grafted onto the story, thankfully her relationship with Joshua is handled with restraint and even subtlety at the end.
"The Water Diviner" has the same lyrical quality, sharply observed realism, and feeling for time and place that made Peter Weir's "Gallipoli" so unique - it's a classy piece of filmmaking that touches a nerve.