1919, Australia. Four years after the horrific Battle of Gallipoli, in which the Ottoman Empire defeated British and French troops in Turkey, Joshua Connor tries to deal with the disappearance of his three sons and his traumatized wife. When she kills herself, he goes to Turkey to keep a promise he made to her: to bring back the bodies of their children. His search takes him to the restricted zone of the British army, which is turning the earth of Gallipoli hoping to find and identify the war’s innumerable victims…

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Directorial debut by Russell Crowe, Hollywood style. Neither great nor bad, both noble and meeting its intentions, The Water Diviner is a beautiful, Technicolor postcard with the usual ingredients: the “based-on-a-true-story” tease at the beginning; beautiful Australian and Turkish landscapes; a man who has lost his faith; children to humanize him; a spectacular climax; and a love story for a proper happy ending. It’s all one uninspired cliché, but well-structured and without a single false note. But there is no real promise of a great directorial career for Russell Crowe, who doesn’t develop his own identity behind the camera.