Could have been better

Rating: 7/10 (1 January 2015)

The Water Diviner mixes between history, war, and drama, which is always an interesting blend. It tells a great fictional story that happens after the Battle of Gallipoli. Other than the main story line, the movie also depicts the culture of Turkey during the days of the Ottoman empire and also the results of a true war.
All these aspects put together create a great two-hour movie that is fully enjoyable. You get to see a culture and some war scenes from an area of the world that is not very much depicted in movies. The acting of Russell Crowe, Yilmaz Erdogan, Cem Yilmaz, and Jai Courtney add even more quality to the movie.
However, there are two things I didn't like in the movie. First, the love story between Crowe and Olga Curylenko was useless. It added no significance to the movie. The acting of Curylenko was great even though, she is not really Turkish. Her background story is interesting but sadly, it adds nothing to the movie.
The other thing is the friendship that built between Joshua (Crowe) and Major Hasan (Erdogan). In the movie, Hasan is depicted as a soul- less person that just cares about winning a war and enjoys killing. But then, he becomes eager to help his enemy. It can be argued that Joshua and his children have nothing to do with the war. Joshua's children were just soldiers following their generals' orders so they are not really an enemy. But the way Major Hasan's character was described, he shouldn't care for that detail.
Overall, it is a very good movie worth watching. You get to witness a world that is rarely depicted in movies.