The Water Diviner

Right now you can watch The Water Diviner on streaming — and it holds up to as much attention as you give it. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Russell Crowe sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. Start it whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

The Water Diviner is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. The writing in The Water Diviner treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. In 1919, Australian farmer Joshua Connor travels to Turkey to discover the fate of his three sons, reported missing in action. Holding on to hope, Joshua must travel across the war-torn landscape to find the truth and his own peace. Russell Crowe and Olga Kurylenko lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2014. The performances in The Water Diviner do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

The Water Diviner is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. A contained runtime means every scene is doing real work. Russell Crowe is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.