LIVE REVIEW: Russell Crowe's The Water Diviner is 'beautiful and deeply moving'

EXPRESS ONLINE Arts Editor Stefan Kyriazis says park your cynicism at the door and just enjoy Russell Crowe's hugely emotional new World War I drama The Water Diviner with Olga Kurylenko.

By Stefan Kyriazis, Arts Editor

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Russell Crowe in The Water Diviner

Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner was the sensation of the recent Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, scooping up the gong for Best Film.

But how will it fare overseas?

The film is based on the true story of an Australian father who travelled to Gallipoli in the aftermath of the First World War to find the bodies of his fallen sons.

Crowe takes the lead as the grieving father – the water diviner of the title – who has faith that his gift for finding anything will help him one last time in his desperate search for the three young men who died together on the same day.

Faced with beaurocratic indifference and obstructions he eventually makes it to Gallipoli.

What he finds there profoundly challenges his views of what happened and his understanding of life, love and loss.

WATCH OUR REVIEW OF THE WATER DIVINER NEXT

The Water Diviner - Film Review for Express

The film also marks the long-awaited fulfillment of a dream for the Oscar-winning actor - to step behind the camera as director.

Some critics have already started snidely commenting on the "soppy" new side to the Aussie hardman.

But what exactly is wrong with telling a deeply moving story in a deeply moving way?

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Russell Crowe in the director's chair

REVIEW: THE WATER DIVINER (15)

Starring: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney

Russell Crowe's new film The Water Diviner is set in the aftermath of the First World War.

A grieving father leaves the Australian outback to fulfill a promise to his dead wife to bring back the bodies of their three fallen sons from the devastating battlefield of Gallipoli.

Crowe is a revelation, showing an emotional intensity not seen since Gladiator.

Not only that – the film also marks his directorial debut and he does so with elegance, restraint and powerful flourishes of wide-screen action and intimate interaction.

Crowe himself has called it a profoundly anti-war film and he does not shy away from the harrowing horrors of the trenches. Nor does he take sides, showing the unimaginable suffering and losses on both sides.

Be warned - the heartbreaking scenes of his son’s final hours are almost unbearable.

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Olga Kurylenko in The Water Diviner

Unlooked for hope and a rebirth of love are slowly woven into the story as Crowe forms a tentative bond with a captivating local woman in Instanbul.

A beautifully cast Olga Kurylenko graduates from Bond girl to a fine nuanced actress with flying colours.

Deeply moving and finely wrought – this is thought-provoking without being cynical, emotional without being exploitative.

Sure, it’s built to tug at  your heart strings – but how can it not, given the extraordinary subject matter?

VERDICT: Four stars.

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Express Online Arts Editor Stefan Kyriazis reviews The Water Diviner
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