Titanic : Movie Review

                                                                 

TITANIC

Director : James Cameron

Genre : Drama/Romance

Cast : Kate Winslet (Rose), Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack) and others

Release Date: December 19, 1997

Rating : 4.8/5

Duration : 3h 16mins

Language : English

Reviewed By : Shravni Datta Borade

On the ocean below, the Titanic stands motionless towards the West, its one and only voyage forever cut short. A remote-controlled TV camera weaves its way through the ship, down hallways, and through doorways, showing us suites intended for millionaires and inherited by crabs. We see it in the opening scenes of "Titanic," covered in the silt of 85 years.

These images hit the mark well; the Titanic begs to have its narrative recounted from beyond the grave, and if the tale is one of show business, hype, smoke, and mirrors, then so was the Titanic. Characters boast that she was "the largest moving work of man in all of history," dismissing the Pyramids and the Great Wall. She is seen in an early scene of the movie, sweeping majestically from bow to stern beneath the lens. At over 900 feet long, she was thought to be "unsinkable" until an iceberg provided an unmistakable refutation.

Before the movie even starts, we are aware of some necessary events. To be certain that we are viewing a real ship, we need to witness the Titanic sail and then sink. There must be a personal tale involving some of the passengers, most likely a romance. There must be brief scenes involving some of the other characters as well as a subplot involving the architects of the ship's vanity and arrogance, as well as perhaps some of their bravery and dignity. The ship's horrible final moments must also be recreated because it took two and a half hours to sink, giving everyone on board time to understand what was occurring and to think about their options.

Kate Winslet plays Rose DeWitt Bukater, a 17-year-old who is sailing towards what she believes to be her own particular doom in the human story. She is forced to get married by her poor mother, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) because she is engaged to him. She despises the idea of getting married so much that she tries to commit herself by jumping off a ship. As Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a brazen young man from steerage, saves her, they naturally fall in love with the little time that is given to them.

The way the story is told in the film subtly highlights the ship. In the first-class dining room, Jack is invited to join Rose's party for dinner. Later, when they evade Cal's manservant Lovejoy (David Warner), they find themselves first in the amazing engine room, where the pistons are as tall as churches, and then at a rousing Irish dance in the packed steerage. (Rose gives Lovejoy the finger at one point; did young women do that in 1912?) Scenes from the command deck, where the captain (Bernard Hill) confers with Andrews (Victor Garber), the ship's designer, and Ismay (Jonathan Hyde), the managing director of the White Star Line, are interspersed in between shots of their expedition. 

Ismay hopes to set a new record for transatlantic ship speed. Although being forewarned that icebergs might have floated into the treacherous northern crossing, he dismisses the threat of harm. There is an agonising passage that almost seems to play in slow motion as the ship strains and shudders to turn away from an iceberg in its path—and fails. The Titanic can easily beat the speed record but is too big to turn fast at high speed.

Because of a clever storytelling device used by Cameron, who frames and describes the entire journey in a contemporary scenario, we are able to grasp exactly what is happening at that very moment. We are informed that the undersea explorer Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) undertook an expedition that resulted in the acquisition of the opening pictures of the genuine Titanic. Instead of finding valuable diamonds, he discovers a young girl's naked sketch. Meanwhile, an elderly woman identifies herself in the drawing when she sees it on TV. This is Rose, still living at 101, played by Gloria Stuart. Her memories ("I can still smell the fresh paint") are shared when she visits Paxton. Also, he shows her film clips of his studies, including a computer simulation of the Titanic's final moments that serves as an audience briefing. When the ship finally sinks, we already understand what is happening and why allowing the story to concentrate on the characters while we easily follow the Titanic's sinking process.

Making a movie like this is not only challenging but also nearly impossible. It's amazing that the filmmakers were able to balance the drama and history given the immense technical challenges. The plot and saga were both persuasive to me. The love story's initial setup is rather conventional, but the payoff—how everyone reacts as the ship sinks—is masterfully written because it forces the passengers to make unthinkable decisions. At a pivotal juncture, even the antagonist, played by Zane, has a human quality (despite everything, damn it all, he does love the girl).

Since I first read the tale of the legendary ship, the Titanic's final moments are represented by a picture that has plagued me. Cries for assistance could readily be heard across the nighttime sea, reaching the lifeboats, which wisely backed away. Many people drowned and froze while still wearing the newest styles. What an amazing situation to be in after paying so much money for a ticket on an unstoppable ship.