Two Historical Dramas Worth Your Time

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2015)

IF YOU'RE LOOKING for quality productions and thought provoking themes that carry into post-screening over-coffee conversation and well beyond, two new historical dramas topped by A-list stars are just what the doctor ordered.
"Woman in Gold," starring Helen Mirren as a woman determined to reclaim a lost art work stolen by the Nazis, and "The Water Diviner," directed by Russell Crowe and starring him as a father determined to find his three presumed-dead sons following the Battle of the Gallipoli, are those rare films that handle scope and intimacy with equal adeptness.
In 'Gold," a British-American production directed by Simon Curtis from a script by Alexi Kaye Campbell, Mirren plays the late Maria Altmann, an aging Jewish refugee living in Los Angeles who enlists a young lawyer named Randy Schoenberg (played to perfection by Ryan Reynolds in a bit of Jimmy Stewart channeling) to fight the government of Austria to reclaim Gustav Klimt's iconic portrait of her aunt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer," which was stolen by the Nazis from her relatives just before World War II. Altmann took her fight all the way to the United State Supreme Court _ and Austria.
To say much more would spoil the film, but suffice it to say that the writing, directing and acting are so skillfully rendered that the story is both moving and educational without being maudlin or dull.
Mirren is completely believable as Altmann, and Reynolds opens eyes as young attorney Schoenberg. The supporting cast _ Katie Holmes (as Schoenberg's wife), Daniel Bruhl, Tatiana Maslany, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern (as a judge!!) and Jonathan Pryce _ show their respect for the piece and its subject matter through wonderfully understated performances.
The film was screened in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the Berlin International Film Festival.
"The Water Diviner," or "Last Hope," an historical fictional drama, is an Australian production directed by and starring Crowe with a screenplay written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight from a book of the same name by Andrew Anastasios and Dr. Meaghan Wilson- Anastasios.
The film begins in 1919, just after World War I (1914-1918), as Joshua Connor (Crowe), an Australian farmer and water diviner, has discovered ground water on his land and is digging a well. His three sons have left to serve with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at the Battle of Gallipoli five years before and are thought to have been killed in battle.
When Joshua's devastated wife, Eliza (Jacqueline McKenzie), commits suicide because of the loss, he vows to bring back their bodies and bury them next to hers.
Joshua travels to Turkey and stays in an Istanbul hotel operated by Ayshe (a hauntingly beautiful reed of a woman, Olga Kurylenko), who has been widowed by the war, and grows close to her little son, Orhan (a charming Dylan Georgiades), whose unusual way of bringing Joshua to his mother's hotel is alone worth the price of admission. Ayshe at first is suspicious of Joshua, but after learning about his reasons for being in Turkey, that changes, much to the chagrin of her brother-in-law, who had coveted her as his own.
Ayshe suggests that Joshua bribe a fisherman so he can go to Gallipoli by boat. He does, and upon arriving there, meets all sorts of resistance, especially from the ANZACs, who are taking part in a mass burial detail from which civilians are banned. There he meets Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan in a riveting turn), a Turkish officer who is helping on the mission. The major becomes a friend and ally of Joshua's and we're off to the races.
"The Water Diviner" at times boasts the kind of lush scope used by director David Lean in films like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago," and like those films, manages to flesh out both character and story with unusual depth and intimacy.
Both "Woman in Gold" and "The Water Diviner" give the audience a run for their money, providing a sense of emotional attachment while offering historical perspective and enlightenment.