SPOILER ALERT - Those who haven't seen this movie may
want to turn away right now. If you were a descendant of the victims of the
Turkish massacres during WW1, you may not like The Water Diviner at all. In his
directorial debut, Russell Crowe distorts history in a way that only a
Hollywood actor (come director) can. The movie appears to be funded by
Australians. The executive producer is an Australian owner of casinos, James
Packer. We can only hope that Crowe didn't use Packer as his history advisor.
No, that task was given to the Turks, because this movie is clearly, and I mean
CLEARLY based on Turkey's version of historical events during that period. The
film portrays the Turks as victims, something most would know is not true.
The film is based in the year 1919, four years after the
battle of Gallipoli, a town where thousands of Australians and Turks lost their
lives. The first revision of history made by Crowe is early in the movie when a
British officer is seen complaining that the Greeks 'invaded' Turkey. Most
would be aware that Greece occupied the environs of Smyrna, a city in western
Turkey, under a British mandate. There was no invasion. Throughout the film,
the Turks are seen as victims of some sort of Greek terror campaign against
them.
What Crowe forgets to tell his audience, is that the
Greeks were sent to Smyrna, because during WW1 (1914-1918), the Turks had
massacred millions of its own citizens, mainly Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians
in a state sponsored campaign regarded by most historians today as genocide.
During WW1, The Turks were conducting massacres and atrocities that the world
had not yet seen before that time. The events were reported in the English
media throughout the world. Stories of massacre, death marches into the
interior without food and water, forced conversions to Islam, confiscation of
property, rape and other barbaric methods were used by the Turks to annihilate
their minorities.
So at the end of the war, Greece was sent to Smyrna, a
city with a majority of Greek citizens, to protect the remaining Christians from
Turkish slaughter. Another thing to note in this movie, is the use of the Greek
town of Livissi (today Kayakoy) as one of the scenes. Most would not be aware
that Livissi, a picturesque town on the slopes of a mountain, was once a purely
Greek town of some 5,500 people. During WW1, the Greeks of Livissi had sent a
detailed report to British authorities to save them from Turkish massacres and
deportations. Today it stands neglected, it's old houses and 14 churches
'abandoned'. The Livissi Greeks endured some barbarous treatment by the Turks
during the war, but that wasn't mentioned in Crowe's film. Crowe only wanted to
tell us about what the Turks 'endured'. I can mention other things about the
film such as the predictable love story between Crowe and the Turkish hotel
owner, or the bizarre fact that Crowe was able to mysteriously find the exact
location of his son's death at Lone Pine, but all movies contain oddities such
as these so common in Hollywood films.
What can't be accepted is a film based on historical
events being so obviously distorted in order to make Australia's enemy at the
time, Turkey, appear so favourably. The film was filmed partly in Turkey and
Australia. As most would know, Turkey is a nation that has a law that
criminalises anyone who 'insults Turkishness'. It would be fair to say, that
considering Crowe filmed the movie in Turkey, he would have either been stoned,
sent to prison, or even sent home in a body bag if he had of presented the
period according to the exact events.
Crowe should stick to acting and leave history to the
historians as he has made a mockery of the events depicted during this film.
Especially those whose descendants were massacred by Turks during WW1.
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