The Water Diviner

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2020)

Russell Crowe made his directorial debut in this heartfelt drama.
Crowe plays Joshua Connor, a farmer and water diviner. A father grieving the loss of his three sons in the battlefield of Gallipoli in World War One, he also subsequently loses his wife.
Connor goes off to Turkey to locate his son's bodies and bring them back to Australia. The British soldiers will not allow Connor to visit the battlefield. However Major Hasan who commanded the Turkish troops and now aiding the locating of missing soldiers helps Connor.
It is a story of a damaged man rediscovering his humanity and something more. Hasan is the former enemy who is more helpful than he needs to be. Turkey is a country at a crossroad in its history facing a post war nationalist uprising led by Ataturk.
Connor also befriends a boy and starts a relationship with his widowed mother Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko) who operates the hotel at Istanbul he is staying in. Ayshe's brother in law is eyeing up marriage but Connor upsets his plans.
Crowe has directed a sensitive poignant drama with a touch of magical realism. It could easily been an overblown ridiculous melodrama which early on it shows signs off. Crowe pulls back and gives it some heart.