The water diviner ...

Based on a book by Andrew Anastasios and Dr. Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios bearing the same name as the film, the Water Diviner is a historical fictional film directed by Russel Crow, who also plays one of the main characters in it.

 

 

Set in 1919 the film centres on an Australian farmer, Joshua Connor who travels to Turkey in the aftermath of the Gallipoli/Anzac battle to trace his three sons presumably killed in it and bring them back home to be buried beside their mother, who not having overcome the grief of having lost them committed suicide.

 

 

More than a simple heart warming journey in which a father's determination is the key to overcome the seemingly unsurmountable obstacles in his path, the picture also captures both sides of the war perspectives in a rather "subtle" way, with some of the dialogues between Connor and the Turkish officer, Major Hasan assisting in the Anzacs mass burial identification process conveying a depth that may not be immediately understood as such, or the very few initial words pronounced between him and Ayshe, the Turkish lady he was lodged a,t meaningfully profound.



Flahsbacks of  moments with his sons as children, the strong connection they had and the role the Arabian Nights' book played in "difficult" times were touching and equally touching those in which he instinctly knows where his two children's graves are located at, (as if he were digging for water and knew precisely where to dig), as well as identifying where his oldest son, who survived the ordeal, was based on the sighting of a detail ...


 

 

I am not surprised the Turkish film maker, actor and poet Yilmaz Erdogan, who played the role of the Turkish officer Major Hasan was acknowledged as the best supporting actor at the 4th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards, because he did perform brilliantly, but so did young Dylan Georgiades who played the role of Orhan, not to mention the "Turkish" Olga Kuryalenko and Russel Crowe himself in the roles of Ayshe and Connor respectively. 

 

 

 

I was particularly touched by this film, namely because I am sensitive to matters related to instinctive feelings and death, (possibly based on my personal experience regarding the loss of one of my children and how I knew it), but also the fact that I enjoy close up and still images which I feel provide an atmosphere of reflexion and greater intimacy with the viewer.