The Water Diviner

2015 • 111 minutes

About this movie

Russell Crowe's directorial debut, "The Water Diviner," is an epic and inspiring tale of one man's life-changing journey of discovery. Crowe plays Australian farmer Joshua Connor, who, in 1919, goes in search of his three missing sons, last known to have fought against the Turks in the bloody Battle of Gallipoli. Arriving in Istanbul, he is thrust into a vastly different world, where he encounters others who have suffered their own losses in the conflict: Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko), a strikingly beautiful but guarded hotelier raising a child alone; her young, spirited son, Orhan (Dylan Georgiades), who finds a friend in Connor; and Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdoğan), a Turkish officer who fought against Connor's boys and who may be this father's only hope. With seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his path, Connor must travel across the battle-scarred Turkish landscape to find the truth…and his own peace.

Ratings and reviews

But , and I see this all too often , in terms strictly pertaining to Crowe's direction and its debut. The fact is that its just a wee bit overreaching , which inevitably translates to self aggrandizing and possibly even narrcissitic when viewed objectively. Ya I realize that is a subjective statement but its always appreciated when a director walks before they run ESPECIALLY when directing oneself. With more economy and less dramatic approach there can be more content emparted to the viewer and not..SRRY

A true Oscar material!! The subject transcends a century by what might be felt by many fathers and mothers and wives today. Puts in perspective that, no matter what we should not forget our humanity. Compassion, tolerance of the Turkish culture and the beautiful reconcilliation between former adversaries so well depicted.. Kudos to Russel Crowe for hitting it out of the ballpark with his first directorial debut.. Power of love is nicely weaved. Lord Kinross was right about Ataturk's modern Turkey.

What's not to love here. Great story, great actors, great epic scenes! A few too many war scenes than I thought necessary for the flow of the screen play, but still beautiful direction and so glad that Russell Crowe chose to keep it clean. That was so very decent of him, and that's rare in Hollyrude.