Cert 15
111 mins
BBFC advice: Contains bloody injury detail
Do you remember the days when Russell Crowe was box office gold?
At the time of Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind he was a Hollywood A-lister.
More recently, he was the bloke who couldn’t sing in Les Miserables and starred as Noah, one of the flops of 2014.
Thankfully, The Water Diviner is Crowe back to his best in a movie which is engaging and, at times, enthralling although it does suffer from a dollop of sugar too many.
Crowe stars as an Australian farmer whose three sons are believed to have died in the Battle Of Gallipoli. After the death of his wife, he vows to find their bodies and bring them home.
So, just a year after The Great War’s end, he takes a ship to Turkey where thousands of lives were lost and where there is a post-war distrust of the Australians whose Anzacs had been defeated after a long and bloody fight.
The distraction from the search for his boys comes in the form of a beautiful hotel manager (Olga Kurylenko). Fortunately, however, the brutality of war and the explorations of the roles of both Anzacs and Turks are not submerged beneath schmaltz.
Crowe impresses both in the lead role and on his directorial debut and The Water Diviner has been lavished with praise in Australia and Turkey.
Less so here where it is possible his recent films have blotted the public’s view of their former hero.
Nevertheless, I am with the Turks and the Aussies.
Russell Crowe the Anzac campaign: "You grow up as a kid in Australia and New Zealand with the details of the sacrifice of Gallipoli tattooed on your eyeballs. Australia and New Zealand were forged as nations on this battlefield."
Reasons to watch: A powerful story with charismatic performances
Reasons to avoid: A dollop of sugar too many
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: bum cheeks
Overall rating: 8/10