Movie Review: The Water Diviner

I’ve always had a fascination with World War I, partially because we barely spent any time on it in school- there was Franz Ferdinand, and trenches, and mustard gas, and then everyone got together and decided it was Germany’s fault, and then there was a Long Afternoon and then WWII happened. Even when I try to sort through, well, everything? I get bogged down in the hot mess of geopolitics and shit. The stories of the people who lived and died through it, though? That’s the history that I’m interested in.  And it’s horrifying.

This is a WWI drama about a father who lost his three sons to the Gallipoli campaign, and goes, after the war, to find their bodies and bring them home. It definitely made with an Australian audience in mind- there’s no explanation of the Gallipoli campaign and it’s larger context in the war. Ultimately for the movie it doesn’t matter, but it made me realize that literally what I knew about Gallipoli was that it was in Turkey, and ANZAC forces were involved. Also maybe it didn’t go well? (Spoiler: it didn’t.)

So Russell Crowe plays Joshua Connor, a farmer in Australia who is able to reasonably guess where to dig wells. He uses intuition, and divining sticks, and luck – maybe a little psychic abilities- (and does say later on in the movie “I have dug a bunch of dry holes, too”). Four years after Gallipoli, and a year after the war ends, his wife dies and he makes the trek to find his boys. He spends time in a hotel in Istanbul, where he meets Ayshe, a woman who doesn’t believe her husband is dead, and her ten year old son, Orhan. He makes his way to Gallipoli (illegally) where the Commonwealth Graves Commission is in the process of finding the war dead and burying them as best they can. They are helped (somewhat under sufferance) by a Turkish Major, Hasan, who lead some of the troops during the battle and is able to pinpoint where trenches were, where engagements happened, and where one can expect to find bodies. Turns out that maybe one of his sons survived the battle, and the hunt goes on from there.

There’s more to it, but that’s the gist: it’s about trying to find some sort of closure to everything that happened in WWI. Or, for the Turks, about figuring out who they are when the war never stops, and when your former “Ottoman Empire” identity no longer exists. It’s about what happens to you – “you,” the soldier, and “you,” the country- when the war is over.

That’s the thing that’s really really interesting- there’s no bad guys. There’s no glory. There’s the awkwardness that ensues when the British occupy Turkey, and some people want Turkish independence, Greece wants to invade, and others don’t want to forget that just a year ago everyone was fighting everyone else. Hasan wants to help Connor, not because he’s sorry about what happened in the war, but because it’s the right thing to do: he’s the only father who came looking.

When asked what he did before the war, Hasan says that for Turkey, there is no before the war. It’s been war his entire life, and even if WWI is over, Greece is invading, so… there’s just a continuation.

The movie opens with the Turks making the final run at the ANZAC trenches after (as it turns out), the ANZAC evacuation/retreat (which one it was depends on who you ask). That really sets the tone, as this is not a “yay rah rah ANZAC patriotism!” There’s a point where Ayshe yells at Joshua that this isn’t his place, he doesn’t understand their traditions, he’s not there to save anybody. She’s right: he’s not a white savior and the movie doesn’t think he is. Hasan and his BFF ask Connor what part of the Ottoman empire Australia will get when it’s carved up, and he says that Australia has enough land: “We fought for a principle.” I note that he doesn’t explain what the principle was, and Hasan and his BFF are like, “That’s a pretty fucking stupid reason for this shit, dude.”

It’s not a perfect movie- the pacing is a little weird and the whole third act is like, okay we’re going to escape the Greeks now! While Hasan is played by a Turkish actor, I don’t believe many of the other Turkish roles are played by Turkish actors, so… that’s a thing.

A friend of mine who is a combat vet also saw this movie, and mentioned on Facebook that if you have combat-related PTSD, this may be a movie you want to skip. Crowe doesn’t water down the battle scenes. They are brutal and horrific, and there’s a soldier who screams all night as he’s dying. So keep that in mind.

I will admit that I like Russell Crowe. I’ve liked him since Gladiator, and even though he’s had some PR issues, he is one of those celebrities who becomes a better person when you follow him on Twitter. (Seriously, a few weeks ago he did this story about a hat he saw a man kick down the street and it was one of those random surreal things and I think about that story a lot. IDK.) He’s generally pretty honest about his limitations (he said that the live singing in Les Mis did not do him any favors) and he’s been talking about this movie on Twitter for ages. I’ve been REALLY curious to see it and having to wait EVER SO PATIENTLY for it to come out in the US.

There’s an interview Crowe did with CBS where he talks a bit about his approach to filmmaking. The interviewer asks if he’d consider not directing himself, and Crowe points out that if he tells the studio that he, Academy Award Winner and 3 time nominee, is in the movie, he gets WAAAAY more money. Which is something I’d never really considered before and maybe I’ve been a little hard on Ben Affleck.

(…nah.)

Anyway, this is a new breed of war movie, and has already won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Yılmaz Erdoğan, and Best Costume Design at the Australian Academy awards. I do recommend it, but it is a massive punch in the gut.

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The Water Diviner is in theatres now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.