''The Water Diviner'' is a 2014

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

starring and directed by Russell Crowe, in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

, and written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight. The film is loosely based on the book of the same name written by Andrew Anastasios and Dr. Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios. It follows an Australian farmer, Joshua Connor (Crowe), who travels to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

soon after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to find his three sons who never returned. The film co-stars

Olga Kurylenko Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko ( uk, Ольга Костянтинівна Куриленко; born 14 November 1979) is a Ukrainian and French actress and model. She started her acting career in 2005, and first found success as an actress for ...

Jai Courtney Jai Courtney (; born 15 March 1986) is an Australian actor. He started his career with small roles in films and television series before being cast as Charlie in the action film '' Jack Reacher'' (2012). He has gone on to star in '' A Good Day t ...

Cem Yılmaz Cem Yılmaz (, born 23 April 1973) is a Turkish actor, stand-up comedian, musician, filmmaker, screen writer, and cartoonist. He is best known for his films '' G.O.R.A.'' (2004), '' A.R.O.G'' (2008) and '' Yahşi Batı'' (2010), and has won tw ...

Yılmaz Erdoğan Yılmaz Erdoğan (born 4 November 1967) is a Turkish filmmaker, actor and poet who is most famous for his box-office record-breaking debut comedy film '' Vizontele'' (2001) and the television series ''Bir Demet Tiyatro'' (1995–2002/2006–2007). ...

, and Jacqueline McKenzie. ''The Water Diviner'' had its world premiere at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia on 2 December 2014. It opened in

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

cinemas on 26 December 2014. The film had a limited release in the United States on 24 April 2015.

Plot

The film begins in 1919, just after World War I has ended, and centres around Joshua Connor ( Russell Crowe), an Australian farmer and water diviner. His three sons Arthur ( Ryan Corr), Edward (James Fraser), and Henry ( Ben O'Toole) served with the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood com ...

(ANZAC) during the military campaign in Gallipoli four years previously and are presumed dead. After his wife Eliza ( Jacqueline McKenzie) commits suicide out of grief, Joshua resolves to bring his sons' bodies home and bury them with their mother. Joshua travels to Turkey and stays in a hotel in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

run by war-widowed Ayshe (

), but is unable to travel to Gallipoli by road. Learning the purpose of his journey, Ayshe tells him to bribe a local fisherman to travel to Gallipoli by boat. When he arrives, Joshua learns that ANZACs are engaged in a mass burial detail and all civilians are banned. Major Hasan (

), a

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the ...

officer assisting the ANZACs, persuades the ANZAC captain Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Hughes (

) to prioritize helping Joshua with his search, as the only father to care enough to come all this way to find the fate of his sons. After finding Edward and Henry's graves, Joshua sees in his dreams that Arthur survives the battle. Hasan recognizes Joshua's surname and tells him that Arthur might have been taken prisoner. Joshua returns to Istanbul, but fails to find out to which prison camp Arthur was transferred, as many Turkish records have been burned. He returns to Ayshe's hotel and learns that she is being pressed to marry her brother-in-law, Omer. Their argument becomes heated and Omer retreats when Joshua intervenes. Ayshe lashes out, blaming Joshua for making things worse and tells him to leave. As Joshua leaves the hotel, Omer and a few of his friends attack him, only to be stopped by Hasan's subordinate, Sergeant Jemal (

). Jemal takes Joshua to Hasan, who explains that the Greeks have invaded and they are going to defend their country as the British are not intervening. Joshua decides to travel with Hasan's group, who will pass through the region where his son might be. As Joshua returns to the hotel to retrieve his belongings, Ayshe apologizes for her earlier words. While on the train, Jemal asks Joshua about a cricket bat he found in the Allied trenches when they retreated, as he is unsure whether it is a weapon or not. Joshua then explains to the Turkish soldiers on board the train the basic

rules of cricket The ''Laws of Cricket'' is a code which specifies the rules of the game of cricket worldwide. The earliest known code was drafted in 1744 and, since 1788, it has been owned and maintained by its custodian, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Lond ...

. However, Greek soldiers attack the train with only Jemal, Hasan and Joshua surviving the initial assault. Using the bat, Joshua saves Hasan as a Greek officer prepares to execute him but Jemal is killed in the resulting struggle. Joshua and Hasan flee to a nearby town where they spot a windmill, which Joshua saw in his recurring dream. There he finds Arthur alive but traumatized. Arthur reveals that at the end of the battle, Edward was still alive but badly wounded. He pleaded with Arthur to end his suffering, and Arthur reluctantly complied. Blaming himself for his brothers' death, Arthur felt he could never return to his family. The Greek soldiers who previously attacked the train begin to attack the town, and the two men try to escape through the mountains. Arthur refuses to follow his father, but relents when Joshua says that without his wife and sons, he has nowhere else to go. They successfully evade the Greek army and return to Ayshe's hotel. The film ends with Joshua drinking a cup of coffee made by Ayshe which indicates that she has fallen in love with him.

Cast

* Russell Crowe as Joshua Connor *

as Ayshe * Dylan Georgiades as Orhan *

as Major Hasan *

as Sergeant Jemal *

as Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Hughes * Ryan Corr as Arthur Connor * Jacqueline McKenzie as Eliza Connor *

Isabel Lucas Isabel Lucas (born 29 January 1985) is an Australian actress and model. She is mainly known for her roles in ''Home and Away'' (2003–06), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (2009), '' Daybreakers'' (2009), ''The Waiting City'' (2009), ...

as Natalia * Mert Fırat as Military Officer * Daniel Wyllie as Captain Charles Brindley *

Damon Herriman Damon Herriman is an Australian actor. He is known for his film and television work in Australia and the United States. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Dewey Crowe in '' Justified''. In 2019, he portrayed the cult leader and crimina ...

as Father McIntyre *

Megan Gale Megan Kate Gale (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian model and actress. Born in Perth, Western Australia, Gale won a model contest when she was 18 in her home town. In 1999 she was cast in a series of commercials for the Italian telecommunicat ...

as Fatma *

Deniz Akdeniz Deniz Akdeniz (born 16 May 1990) is a Turkish Australian actor from Melbourne, Australia. He was nominated for the "Award for Best Actor" at the 2010 Inside Film Awards, for his role of "Homer" in the Australian box office hit '' Tomorrow, When ...

as Imam *

Steve Bastoni Steve Bastoni (born 4 March 1966) is an Award winning, Italian-born Australian actor. He became a household name in Australia for his role as Constable Yannis 'Angel' Angelopoulos in ''Police Rescue'' and as Steve Parker in ''Neighbours''. H ...

as Omer * James Fraser as Edward Connor * Ben O'Toole as Henry Connor *

Robert Mammone Robert Mammone (born 1969 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as AK in ''The Matrix'' movies, as Sid Walker in the soap opera ''Home and Away'' and as Tim Palmer in '' Sons and Daughters''. He was also ...

as Colonel Demergelis * Charlie Allan as Soldier At The Station Hall * Michael Dorman as Greeves *Sophia Forrest as Edith * Christopher Sommers as Tucker

Production

The story concept originated from a single line in a letter written by Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Hughes, who was a worker in the Imperial War Graves unit. The footnote simply said, “One old chap managed to get here from Australia, looking for his son’s grave.” After a year of research, the writers were unable to identify the man or his son, which gave them the freedom to imagine a story which would become their screenplay. On 18 June 2013, it was announced that Crowe had signed to make his directorial debut with an historical drama film ''The Water Diviner'' from a screenplay written by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios. He would also star in the film. Producers would be Troy Lum, Andrew Mason and Keith Rodger and it was set to be shot in Australia and

. On 25 March 2014, it was announced that Seven West Media and Seven Group Holdings would co-finance the film. On 7 November 2014,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

acquired the US rights to the film.

Casting

Crowe portrays Joshua Connor, an Australian farmer.

was added to the cast on 18 October 2013 to co-star with Crowe. On 24 October,

was announced as having signed to star in ''The Water Diviner'' and another historical film, '' Unbroken''. Courtney first filmed ''Unbroken'' and then moved to ''The Water Diviner'', playing a soldier, Lt. Col. Cecil Hughes. Later, Turkish actors

and

were also added to the cast, along with some Australian actors: Ryan Corr, Daniel Wyllie,

and Jacqueline McKenzie.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began on 2 December 2013 in Australia.

Marketing

On 1 February 2014, the first official still from the film was revealed. On 28 April, the first footage from the film in a 7-minute featurette, narrated by Crowe, was revealed. The first official trailer for the film was released on 30 September.

Release

The film was released in Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey on 26 December 2014, and it was released in Thailand on 15 January 2015. The film was initially to be released in the UK on 23 January 2015 but was moved to 3 April. The film was released in IMAX, and general, theaters by

in the United States on 24 April 2015. Entertainment One and

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

jointly released the film in Australia, with eOne solely releasing the film in Europe and Canada. The film made its

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

television premiere on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

in Australia on 20 April 2015, a mere four months after its theatrical release in Australia for the centennial anniversary of ANZAC Day. Seven is an investor in the film.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 61% based on 150 reviews; the average rating is 6.05/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''The Water Diviner'' finds Russell Crowe on somewhat uncertain footing as a director, but he's rescued by a strong performance from himself in the leading role." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A -" on an A+ to F scale. Calls for a protest and boycott of the film on social media resulted in the

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

page "Protest and Boycott the Water Diviner" which has over 16,000 fans. Descendants of victims of the 1915

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

, Assyrian genocide and Greek genocide were incensed by the film's portrayal of the Turks as victims, at the same time that Turks were committing atrocities against their minorities. Various film critics described the movie as "a distortion of history that only serves to appease Turkey and its continued agenda of genocide denial." Anthony McAdam of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' wrote: "Leaving aside aesthetic considerations, the fact is the film's lack of any historical context is breathtaking." McAdam notes that there is one "glaring omission" in the film, that being the lack of any mention of the

. Andrew O'Hehir of ''Salon'' questioned why Crowe and

released the film in the US on 24 April, the same day that Armenians commemorate the

, comparing it to releasing a film which ignores the Jewish Holocaust on

Yom HaShoah Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( he, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, , lit=Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Rem ...

Box office

''The Water Diviner'' grossed $30.8 million worldwide. On 5 January 2015, it was named the highest grossing Australian-produced film of 2014, with a gross of $12,294,472. However, in many cinemas in the UK it was screened for just one week. The film was received very favourably in Turkey at its debut and subsequent release. To date, the film has taken almost 14.3 million ($5.7 million).

Accolades

¹ Shared award with ''

The Babadook ''The Babadook'' is a 2014 Australian supernatural horror film written and directed by Jennifer Kent in her directorial debut, and produced by Kristina Ceyton and Kristian Moliere. The film stars Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hay ...

References

External links

* *
The Water Diviner movie review and trailer at SBS Movies

at th
World Socialist Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Water Diviner, The 2014 films Australian World War I films 2010s adventure drama films 2010s war films Australian epic films Australian war drama films American war drama films 2014 multilingual films English-language Turkish films 2010s Turkish-language films World War I films based on actual events Drama films based on actual events Dune Entertainment films IMAX films Universal Pictures films Warner Bros. films Films directed by Russell Crowe Films scored by David Hirschfelder Films about farmers Films about the Gallipoli campaign Films about missing people Films set in Australia Films set in Turkey Films set in Istanbul Films set in the Ottoman Empire Films set in 1919 Films shot in Australia Films shot in Turkey 2014 directorial debut films 2014 drama films 2010s English-language films Australian multilingual films American multilingual films 2010s American films