Movie Review: Titanic

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Written: James Cameron, based on the actual disaster.
Film Distributors: 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures
Year:1997


Recollections of an Earlier Time and a Film Review

The movie Titanic brings back a lot of memories, not just of the movie or the actual disaster itself, but the very time it was released. I can remember back when in 1997, I was around 12 years old and never will I forget the craze and hype generated behind this one movie. I recall when girls and guys alike were all crazy over this. Girls went insane over Leonardo DiCaprio, whom they regarded as a hunk, and guys went nuts over the fact that Kate Winslet was naked for a few good scenes here and there. Oh yeah, there was also the steamy car windows where Jack and Rose made some "forbidden love". Believe me, a lot of hormonally charged teens all regarded that as the best "part" in the movie.

However, unlike most people within my age demographic at the time, I did not care about how people thought of Leonardo DiCaprio being a hunk or the fact that Kate Winslet was naked, I merely sought to see this movie because of the historical significance relating to the Titanic disaster. I wasn't interested in seeing two lovers from two different worlds falling in love on board a doomed ship, I was more concerned about the ship itself sinking right then and there in the ocean. I could have done without the romance, yet James Cameron obviously needed a plot for his story as there had been way too many retellings of the ship sinking.

I doubt it if any of my fellow 12 and 13 year olds at the time knew ANYTHING about the disaster itself. Prior to seeing the movie, I can recall reading books written by Robert Ballard regarding the topic of the Titanic, its sinking and the condition of the wreck itself, along with a good number of documentaries here and there on television. So I really had a greater grasp of the actual events surrounding the ship than most of the people who were my age at the time. However, as it goes, everyone thought I was crazy for ignoring the two characters in Titanic for the sake of watching the actors portraying historical figures and the fact it was based on a true story.

As we all know, The Titanic was labeled as being unsinkable. Meaning nothing could sink this boat. However, in one of history's saddest of all ironies, Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on its maiden voyage, and in part because of a lack of lifeboats, two-thirds of the passengers and crew die in the sinking.
Of course, the story doesn't end there. After being recovered by the Carpathia, the survivors are taken to New York City where word gets out that Titanic sank in the North Atlantic will most on board, shocking the world that an unsinkable ship has gone under. During the American and British Inquiries regarding the sinking, surviving passengers and crew were able to testify whether or not the sinking was a result of Human Error or an Act of God. During these two inquiries, the crew testified in good nature that they were acting with good responsibility.

Regarding the issues that the Titanic sank in one piece, the crew continuously argued that the ship did in fact sink in one piece, as opposed to the passengers who testified that the ship actually broke in two as it sank. Despite what was said, the Inquiry ruled in the Crew's favor and as a result, the commonly accepted history was that Titanic sank in one piece. That is until 1985 when Dr. Ballard and his research team rediscovered the wreck and confirmed that the passengers were correct in saying that the ship broke up as it sank.

Although it was a tragedy, the Titanic Disaster itself has made a large impact on our culture. Many games, movies, and television shows have paid a visit to the doomed ship on its collision course with an iceberg. Yet, none of these movies, films or games have made an impact on the viewing audience as much as James Cameron's version of the disaster. Looking back at the time, I have now come to regard the love story in Cameron's movie as watchable. Perhaps its because I got over the notion of watching this movie just for the sake of the disaster and now have come to regard the entire movie as something worthy of being called a classic despite using the old formula where two lovers from different backgrounds fall for each other.

Titanic starts off with a descent down to the wreck itself. We are introduced to two submarines both of which are maned by a group of treasure hunters under the command of Brock Lovett are in search of something from the ship itself; a long lost necklace called "The Heart of the Ocean". Sending an underwater robot into the first class cabin where it searches for a metal safe. After carefully removing the safe and then bringing it up to the surface, our intrepid crew of treasure hunters begin opening the safe on board their research ship where they find, much to their dismay, a bunch of papers. Regardless, the papers themselves may have a clue as to what these treasure hunters are looking for.

As Lovett and his crew are cleaning up the papers, we discover that they the papers are actually drawings of a nude woman wearing The Heart of the Ocean that Lovett is after. Meanwhile, we focus in on an elderly woman who seems to know what Lovett and his men are after. Here we are introduced to Rose, one of the protagonists of the movie, and the woman in the picture. After introducing herself, Lovett and his crew invites Rose out to the research ship where Lovett's crew are very skeptical of Rose and who she claims to be. In fact, one of Lovett's men go as far as to accuse this woman of being a fraud and simply into this as a publicity stunt. However, Lovett is not listening as he believes Rose to be who she says she is. Yet, Lovett is simply inviting her out because he is far more interested in finding The Heart of the Ocean.

On board the Research Ship, Rose begins looking at her old belongs with a sense of bittersweetness at the state of both the items and her reflection, she begins to tell her story to the eagerly listening Lovett. From then on, the entire movie is Rose's recollections of her time aboard Titanic.

The story goes that back in 1912, on Titanic's maiden voyage, Rose was set to marry Cal, the son of a steel tycoon. Although Rose and her mother are able to show off their wealth, it turns out that Rose and her mother are actually in deep debt and they are hoping that Rose's marriage will eradicate the debts placed on them. On the other side of the Southampton docks, we are introduced to Jack, a drifting artist who wins his ticket in a card game. Two people whose lives will be changed forever onboard a ship that is doomed to sink.

After convincing Rose not to kill herself, Jack becomes someone dear to her. It seems that Cal, and Rose's mother for that matter, cannot stand Jack as he is not a member of the wealthy. Therefore both Rose's mother and Cal do all they can to prevent the two from ever seeing each other. However, Jack and Rose avoid those problems and manage to meet with each other and associate with each other, even it is against social taboo to do so. From their encounter at the Titanic's stern section, to their ordeal regarding the sinking, Jack and Rose's love develops into something so powerful that by the time the movie ends, even the toughest person will be in tears.

Cameron makes use of the tired old story about two lovers from different worlds coming together. Rose being from a world of wealth and Jack from a world of constant drifting. However, because of social structure and societal customs, neither of them can ever be with each other. Yet, Cameron makes that same cliched "boy-meets-girl-from-different-worlds" genre new with a sense of impending danger as the Titanic is on its way to smack the iceberg of doom.

All the while we, the viewing audience is observing the ordeals involving Jack and Rose, its clear that the audience also forgets that the ship will sink and most of the people on board will freeze to death or drown or both. When Titanic finally reaches its climax (that is, strike the legendary iceberg that sank the ship) the audience has now come to the realization that this movie was just more than a love story.

As someone who has researched the Titanic disaster, I absolutely love this movie for its classic story relating to a real historical event. I give credit to James Cameron and his production crew for their exhaustive efforts in this movie. For one thing, the actors playing the historical figures are dead on accurate. For example, Victor Garber who plays Thomas Andrews, bears an uncanny resemblance to the real Thomas Andrews. The actor who plays Captain Edward J. Smith, Bernard Hill, looks, acts and even sounds like one would have expected of the late Captain Smith. Even the actress who plays the "unsinkable" Molly Brown, Kathy Bates, brings Molly Brown back from the pages of history with such a passion, that even I tend to believe to be a fantastic performance. I could go on how the actors who played the historical figures such as John Jacob Astor, Archibald Gracie, Charles Lightoller, Henry Lowe and Benjamin Guggenheim resemble the actual historical figures. Titanic did a superb casting job. Filmmakers who aspire to create a historical film should take some pointers from Titanic, as it pays to have actors who resemble the historical figures they are portraying.

Ever since it sank, the sinking of Titanic has affected our culture. Various movies, books, television shows, and even parodies of the disaster have been created as a result of this tragedy. Even if one has no knowledge of history, one can still claim they know about Titanic. As for the survivors of the tragedy, there are none left alive who can tell us their story as the last survivor died in May of 2009, a mere three years before the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. For this I am upset because I really wanted to have met someone who was there when Titanic went down as it would have been my only personal connection to the history itself.

OVERALL SCORE: 10

Hands down, this movie is a classic worthy of its title. James Cameron pulled off a masterpiece with this movie, a masterpiece that may never be duplicated or repeated.