Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2014 drama film called,
The Water Diviner. Spoiler's ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins with Major Hasan, preparing for their final assault in the war.
Walking past his soldiers, he orders a kid that's part of his troop to get his
binoculars in his dug-out. As soon as the kid leaves, the soldiers charge to the enemies.
The enemies start shooting and manage to hit some of them. Finally, they are able to reach
their trench but find out that it is just a booby trap that enables the gun to fire.
The soldiers celebrate as their enemies, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,
also known as, ANZAC, already retreated. The soldiers wave their flag in celebration.
The kid comes back, only to find out that Major Hasan had his binoculars all along.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Jemal, retrieves a cricket bat from the belongings of the ANZAC soldiers. Smiling
from ear to ear, the war has finally ended. Four years after, a farmer named Joshua Connor,
who is also a water diviner, is currently locating a water source. After finishing his job, he goes
home and finds his wife cleaning their sons shoes. His wife tells him that it is time for a bedtime
story for the boys. Although disagreeing at first, Joshua still reads a book to an empty bedroom.
After finishing the story, he leaves their children's room and sees his wife crying.
It turns out that it is been four years since their children came home.
She expresses that as someone good at finding water, Joshua cannot find his own children.
Then, we see flashbacks of the war. As Joshua reads his son's diary,
memories of them came flashing in his mind. His wife wipes his tears out and lets him sleep.
The next morning, Joshua wakes up only to find out that his wife committed suicide.
Hugging his dead wife, he cries in agony. Later, we see Joshua pleads to the priest
to bury his wife beside the church. After making a bargain that he donates his cart to the community,
the priest agrees. Then, Joshua promises to his wife that he will bring home their children
and bury them beside her. Afterward, Joshua heads out for a trip to Turkey.
Meanwhile, we see Major Hasan and Sergeant Jemal being escorted back to Gallipoli. They reach the
excavation site and the escort introduces them to Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Hughes.
Lt. Col. Hughes asks Major Hasan to help him recover the remains of the ANZAC soldiers on
the battlefield that already serves as a mass grave for those who died in the war.
Major Hasan agrees, but he reminds Lt. Col. Hughes that he, too, lost many men during the war.
Back to Joshua who is traveling, we see a flashback of him saving his sons from a sandstorm.
When he reaches Istanbul, a man and a boy are offering him a hotel to stay. Joshua declines
them both, but the kid insists on offering. He asks a soldier how to get to Gallipoli
in which the soldier responds that he cannot go without a permit. Without him noticing, the boy
already grabs his bag and runs away. Joshua chases the boy until they reach their hotel.
Joshua enters the hotel and is greeted by Ayshe, the receptionist and the mother of the kid,
named Orhan. When Ayshe finds out that Joshua is an Australian,
she immediately says that they do not have a room anymore. That is when her brother-in-law,
Omer, steps in and tells Joshua that there is still room for him. Having no choice,
Ayshe agrees and Omer orders Orhan to take Joshua to his room. Before entering, Joshua asks Orhan
if he could take him to the war office the next day in exchange for money, to which Orhan agrees.
Joshua is looking at a map when Ayshe knocks to give him his needs. Talking for a while,
Joshua tells Ayshe that he will be going to Gallipoli. Triggering some memories in her,
she tells Joshua that Orhan will not accompany him to the war office. The next day, Joshua is in the
war office to get a permit to go to Gallipoli, but he fails. He tries to show the military
officer the picture of his sons, the reason why he wants to go there, but it still has no effect.
Then, we see Joshua and Orhan together, walking past a Turkish Nationalist Rally.
Orhan takes Joshua to a Mosque and Joshua is amazed at how beautiful it is.
At the hotel, Ayshe is disappointed with Orhan for accompanying Joshua. The next morning,
Ayshe prepares breakfast for him when her father suddenly talks to Joshua. Speaking in Turkish,
Joshua has no idea what he is talking about. When Ayshe serves his breakfast, he does not
like it and asked for a boiled egg. Annoyed, she goes back to the kitchen to prepare his egg.
In there, Ayshe and Omer talk about her duty as an Ottoman woman. She, then, came back to Joshua and
translates his father's question to him regarding his wife. When Joshua answers that she is dead and
so as his kid, Ayshe realizes his true purpose in going to Gallipoli. She tells him to bribe
a local fisherman in order to get to Gallipoli even without a permit. As he is about to leave
the hotel, Orhan chases after him and pleads to find his father for him. Joshua is surprised that
Omer is not his father but his uncle instead. Promising that he will try, Joshua leaves.
At the Gallipoli, Joshua's boat is spotted by the soldiers. They surround him and take him to
Lt. Col. Hughes as ordered. In his tent, Joshua talks to Lt. Col. Hughes and Major Hasam about
his children. A picture falls from the diary as Joshua shows Lt. Col. Hughes a map of where
his sons may be. Lt. Col. Hughes promises him to do everything they can, but they cannot let
him stay. As Major Hasam picks up the photo, he is shocked as he recognizes Joshua's son.
The next morning, Joshua is still on the island. Major Hasam, Sergeant Jemal, and Lt. Col. Hughes
talk about him. Then, Major Hasam convinces Lt. Col. Hughes to help Joshua finds his son.
With the reason that he is the only one who cares enough to travel just to find his sons' remains.
Convinced, they start looking for the remains of Joshua's children.
As Joshua looks around the battlefield, we see a flashback of his children fighting in a war.
The three brothers, Arthur, Edward, and Henry, are all good at fighting. They manage to take down
many Turkish soldiers. Even Sergeant Jemal was able to survive because he pretended to be dead.
As the three are about to retreat, Arthur steps on a landmine.
He told his brothers to back away, but they came back to rescue him and this causes their life.
Back to the present, Joshua is able to locate them and the soldier starts
digging. The soldier retrieves a dog tag and identifies it as one of Joshua's sons.
Lt. Col. Hughes gives the tag to him and a soldier fuels his pain more.
Saying that Major Hasam is the reason why he's son is dead, he attacks him. Sergeant Jemal stops him
with a bash of a crucifix. Other soldiers, then, take Joshua away as per Lt. Col. Hughes order.
Later, Lt. Col. Hughes hands Joshua another dog tag, but cannot find the dog tag of his eldest,
Arthur. But Joshua is confident that his sons would not leave each other so his dog tag
and remains must be just around somewhere. He is really determined to take his sons back to
their mother. At sunset, Joshua reads the favorite bedtime story of Edward and Henry at their grave.
The next morning, Sergeant Jemal hands a telegram to Major Hasam and informs him
that the Greeks have taken over Smyrna. He, then asks the major why he cares about Joshua. Major
Hasam did not answer and approaches Joshua instead. Joshua apologizes for his actions.
Then, Major Hasam shows him a paper wherein his son's name is in there listed as a prisoner.
This gives hope to Joshua that his eldest can still be alive.
Thereafter, we see Joshua back in the hotel. He finds them having a celebration. Orhan sees him
and asks about his father to which Joshua responds that he fails to find him. Ayshe sees and
approaches them, telling Joshua that the event is for Orhan because he just got circumcised. Omer,
then, shows up, takes Ayshe away, and welcomes Joshua back.
The next morning, Joshua goes back to the war office and finds Major Hasam to ask for help.
Unfortunately, Major Hasam says he cannot help him anymore due to the crisis their country is facing.
The same military officer that Joshua talked to earlier asks for his passport and confiscates
it in order for them to book a flight for Joshua to leave. He pleads to the officer that he just
wants to know where his son is imprisoned but the officer insists that his son is
dead and that he should just go home. Escorted by another officer outside,
the officer offers Joshua a help in trying to find the documents of his son's imprisonment.
Joshua thanks him and quickly follows Major Hasam to a secret hideout. But Major Hasam insists that
he cannot help him anymore. The next day, Joshua is playing with Orhan when Ayshe and Natalia,
her friend, talks about him. Afterward, Joshua, Ayshe, and Orhan go out and spend time together.
Joshua and Ayshe, then, talk about their life before saying good night to each other. In her
room, Ayshe suddenly cries. The next morning, we see her preparing to marry Omer. Meanwhile,
Joshua finds nothing about his son's imprisonment as documents are being burned. Back at the hotel,
Joshua and Ayshe talk about Ayshe's tradition, specifically how coffee can interpret feelings
and fates. As Joshua finishes his coffee, she is shocked by what she sees in his cup.
Ayshe, then, goes to the kitchen where Omer follows her. The two argue, Ayshe expressing
that she is not yet ready to remarry. Pissed, Omer suddenly tells Orhan, who is just playing outside,
that his father is already dead. Orhan is shocked by his uncle's revelation.
He runs upstairs and hugs Joshua. Ayshe and Omer continue to fight and this results in Omer hitting
Ayshe. He just stops when Joshua intervenes. When Omer leaves, Ayshe turns her anger to Joshua
and blames him for making things worse and for causing the misfortune of her and her son's life.
She, then, angrily tells him to leave. Later, Joshua is about to leave but Orhan waits for him.
He does not want Joshua to go. Joshua just gave him his book before leaving. Outside,
he is attacked by Omer and his men. He fights back but Sergeant Jemal
and his friends arrive and stop the fighting. Then, we see Joshua talking to Major Hasam and
Sergeant Jemel. The sergeant tells Joshua that he knows where is Arthur might be imprisoned. Later,
they are back in the hideout and have a drink with each other, building a friendship over the night.
Afterward, Joshua goes back to the hotel to get his bag that is left when Omer attacked him.
Ayshe apologizes for her words and actions towards him earlier. She, then, prepares a meal for him.
In his bed, he is thinking about his sons death when he has a dream about Arthur being alive
and the place where he is. Before the sun rises, the military officer and other soldiers arrive
in the hotel to escort him back to the port for him to go home. Receiving no response,
the soldiers barge in the hotel. Joshua, on the other hand, is being helped by Ayshe to escape.
Going back to the hideout, he pleads with Major Hasam and Sergeant Jemal to take him with them.
Morning comes, they hitch a ride on a train. Inside, Sergeant Jemal asks Joshua about the
cricket bat he recovers from the ANZACs before. Joshua, then, teaches them how to play cricket.
While the others are having fun, Major Hasam spots a cloud of smoke in a nearby town and
sees people evacuating. The train, then, stops and they are suddenly get ambushed.
Greek soldiers show up and kill everyone except for Joshua, Sergeant Jemal, and Major Hasam.
Major Hasam tells the Greek soldiers not to harm Joshua because he is just a prisoner.
The Greeks, then, spare Joshua's life and plan to execute the two soldiers outside.
But Joshua saves them using the cricket bat and a fight breaks out. Unfortunately,
Sergeant Jemal dies in the struggle, but the two are able to get away using the Greeks horses.
They stop for a while to let the horse rest and have a drink. Major Hasam, then, promises Joshua
that he will accompany him until he meets his son. The two continue to travel and reach a town.
Joshua sees a familiar windmill that he sees in his dream. He continues to search
for his son until he finally sees him. A tearful reunion happens between Joshua and his eldest,
Arthur. Arthur asks for his mother, but it breaks his heart as Joshua breaks the news
that his mother is already dead. Joshua, then, wants for them to come home, but his son declines.
It is revealed that back in the war, Arthur killed one of his brothers, Edward, who is badly wounded.
Although he did not want to, Edward begs for him to do it. Grabbing Henry's gun, Arthur
shoots Edward in the head as he cries in agony. Joshua cries because of his son's revaluation.
But instead of blaming him, Joshua takes the blame and responsibility for himself
for letting his children go to war. Meanwhile, gunshots are heard nearby.
Major Hasam tells Joshua that the Greeks are coming and he needs to leave.
The two friends, then, bid their final goodbye to each other as Major Hasam escapes and Joshua
is led by Arthur through the mountains. A shootout is happening between the Greeks
soldiers and the defense of the town when the commander of the Greeks spots Joshua and Arthur.
He orders his men to shoot them, but they manage to escape inside the mountains.
Inside, Arthur tells his father to jump into the well. The water will, then, lead him to
the coast wherein he can escape. But Joshua doesn't want to leave without his son. For him,
it is either they leave and live together or die together. This convinces his son to
go with him. Jumping down the well, the father and son manage to escape the Greek soldiers.
Three weeks later, the father and son is back at Istanbul. Arthur is now fixing himself,
having a haircut and shave. Afterward, they go back to the hotel. When Orhan sees Joshua,
he jumps on him out of happiness. Then, Natalia and Orhan guide Arthur to his father's room.
Before going upstairs, Natalia tells Joshua that Ayshe is outside. Wasting no time, Joshua goes
outside and sees Ayshe serving customers. Sitting at a table, their eyes meet. Then,
she serves him coffee and proceeds to serve other customers again. The movie ends with Joshua
remembering their conversation before about coffee and they look at each other, smiling lovingly.