A happy journey

Ervell E. Menezes

Narrated against the backdrop of the Gallipoli war, The Water Diviner is about a man’s search for his three sons who fought in that war. Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) is the water diviner whom we see digging for water in the Australian outback. When he returns home his wife tells him that their three sons who went to Gallipoli are missing. Distraught, she commits suicide.
Conner buries her and sets out for Turkey to look for the bodies. At a Turkish hotel he meets recently widowed Ayshe (Olga Kuryolenko) and her cute son Orhan (Dylan Georgrades). Ayshe helps him by putting him in touch with Turkish major Hassan (Yilnez Endogen). For me though The Water Diviner is a bits-and-pieces movie with the journey more important than the destination. The Turkish party scene is impeccable raising visions of their
formidable past.
Russell Crowe goes through the motions looking grim but it is Olga Kuryolenko and Dykan Georgrades who keep the movie chugging most of the while.