By Staci Layne Wilson 
@StaciWilson

THE WATER DIVINER Review

The feature directorial debut of Russell Crowe, The Water Diviner, strives to hit a David Lean-style epic note about love and loss in a time of war, but it comes off more like a “Thorn Birds”-type TV melodrama. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – I’m all for a little soap and suds, but in this case the story comes up dry. And long. Very, very long.

It’s 1919, a few years after the abysmal Australian defeat at the WWI battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. Thousands of young soldiers were killed or left MIA. Three of the missing are brothers, sons of a poverty-stricken farmer named Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe). Connor may be poor, but he has an uncanny gift for unearthing ground-water in even the driest of deserts. Could this talent be parleyed into locating his lost sons? After the suicide of his bereaved wife, Connor pulls up stakes and takes on the arduous quest of finding his boys in the Ottoman Empire, not knowing if they’re dead or alive.

While it is far too leisurely-paced (read: boring), there is a good movie somewhere inside the existing footage. Lensed with incredible beauty and splendor by Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings), it’s visually breathtaking in its presentation of widescreen vistas juxtaposed with intimate, gritty battle scenes. The set-pieces are magnificent. The score is manipulative and overwrought. There are some genuinely affecting, poignant moments; however, the overall plot is contrived and unimaginative. As he brings Connor to life, there’s no denying Crowe is a great actor. And perhaps one day he’ll be a great director too… but today is not that day.

Rated R

111 Minutes

 THE WATER DIVINER Review