An ambitious period drama: The Water Diviner review and trailer
YOU CAN'T accuse Russell Crowe of taking the easy option with his directorial debut, The Water Diviner. The picture is an ambitious period drama, intriguingly set during the break-up of the Ottoman empire, and almost oppressively sad.
(15, 111mins)
Director: Russell Crowe
Stars: Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Cem Yilmaz, Jai Courtney
Crowe plays Joshua Connor an Australian farmer and “water diviner” whose three sons are missing presumed dead after the battle of Gallipoli in 1915, a loss for which he blames himself. It’s too much for his wife to bear and she drowns herself.
It’s hard for Connor - and the audience - to come back from such a downer but the man is made of strong stuff and travels to Constantinople looking for answers. Can he divine the whereabouts of his sons, dead or alive?
The Water Diviner Official Trailer #1 (2014) Russell Crowe Australian Epic Movie HD
The historical backdrop is compelling as Connor finds an emerging nation, modern day Turkey, in a state of national trauma (carved up by the Imperial powers and under attack from Greece) and a people suffering tragedies of their own.
Crowe has a keen eye for local colour and ritual but it’s the common humanity of the protagonists that interests him: Connor forges an unlikely alliance with a Turkish war hero (Yilmaz Erdogan) while romance blossoms with an attractive hotel owner and single mother (Olga Kurylenko).
The former relationship is the more convincing and touching, the latter feels a tad forced and predictable, its sweetness failing to lift the rather flat mood that prevails over this sincere, sturdily old-fashioned picture.
