Titanic (1997)

Good news to some, bad news to others but altogether inevitable as Titanic has got to be my favourite film of all time. I can feel any respect some of you had plummeting, What? Titanic? That rubbish why? Well there are thousands of reasons and if I listed all of them well, we could be here weeks. But I’ll give it a go tell you some of the facts and give you some of the most important reasons why I love it and why you should watch it if not for the first time then to re-watch it and give it another chance.

Everyone knows that the basic premise of the Titanic story is true to life. It sank, many lives were lost in a disaster that maybe should not have happened in the first place or could have been handled much better. That in essence is why I am fascinated by the story. I not only love the film but will watch and read anything I can get my hands on that discusses the topic. There are so many what ifs when it comes to the event; if they had done this could it have been avoided if that had done that could it have ended differently.

James Cameron is a huge Titanic buff himself and he visited the wreck site on the ocean floor of the North Atlantic 2 and a half miles down. He shot footage of the wreck some of which can be seen in the film. He subsequently went back after finishing the Titanic shoot and made a documentary with Bill Paxton who was in the film, called Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) I would strongly recommend this to anyone interested in the history.

James Cameron was already a successful director when he decided to write Titanic, he had had hits with Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986) and True Lies (1994). He wrote the Titanic script and pitched it to Twentieth Century Fox, with the tag “Romeo and Juliet on board this ship”. Intrigued they agreed to back it and it was given a budget which exploded to a final, unprecedented at the time, $200 million.

Cameron began casting and building half of the infamous ship to an exact replica of the original with the help of official Titanic historians. The staircase for example was recreated in entirety and it was the first time it had been seen in 86 years. This attention to detail is one of the reasons I love the film, as I have discovered more about the event, I have noticed in every re-watching of the movie little things that astound me.

Cameron had quite a job on his hands when casting his film, many of the characters were real figures in society in 1912 most perished some survived. As a perfectionist he wanted to cast sticking as closely to appearance and personality as possible. He cast many famous faces such as; Kathy Bates, Bernard Hill and Victor Garber to fill the roles. His script was fascinating as it incorporated an entirely fictional love story into a truly real event. The fictional roles of Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater were filled by rising stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet and its safe to say they inhabited the roles so successfully that they became instant international movie stars and have continued to succeed in the 16 years since.

Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) is a treasure hunter investigating the wreck of the Titanic for a diamond thought to have been lost on the ship, when they discover a sketch of a woman wearing the necklace it is aired on the news and is seen by Rose DeWitt Bukater who gets in touch with Brock explaining it is her in the drawing and visits his ship at the wreck site. She was an American travelling back to America from England with her Fiancé Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) and mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater (Frances Fisher) and she tells the crew the story of her experience on the doomed liner.

Rose unhappy and feeling trapped in her relationship decides to end her life by jumping off the back of the ship. She is stopped by Jack Dawson a poor American who won his ticket in a game of poker minutes before the ship was due to leave South Hampton. The two have an instant bond and this is perfectly portrayed by Dicaprio and Winslet who had great chemistry and have remained friends to this day, even making another film together in 2008; Revolutionary Road, an altogether different style of film.

As the young couple gradually fall in love they are in interrupted by the inevitable arrival of the iceberg that the crew tried drastically to avoid. The re-enactment of the sinking is one of the most suspenseful and emotional scenes I have ever seen in a film. Cameron manages to capture the immense scale of what was happening to those passengers and the doom they were heading for.

Most people will surely roll their eyes, but yes I love to watch the love story unfold, it is not the most realistic thing you’ll ever see but there is something sweet about seeing an attraction so strong it breaks the class barrier which was so strictly adhered to. I am a huge fan of Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet’s work mostly due to this film and I think both are very under rated. Dicaprio has made a number of incredible pictures and many with Martin Scorsese you should check them out; Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2008), Inception (2010) and Django Unchained (2012).

Kate Winslet has also made numerous outstanding contributions to film with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress and Carnage (2011).

A pattern you will find in my blogs will be my mention of the film score. I truly believe it to be one of the most important elements in the production of a movie and it can make or break a scene. The score for Titanic created by James Horner is one of my favourite it ranges the full scale of human emotions, one minute you’ll be listening to Leaving Port, thrilled and excited, the next you’ll be listening to Unwilling to Stay Unwilling to Leave and crying huddled in a corner (if you’re an emotional wreck like me).

So check it out, maybe watch a documentary first find out the facts, you’ll be even more amazed when you watch the film and see the extraordinary details Cameron has gone to make his film. If nothing else the box office speaks for itself, Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time for 12 years making over $1 Billion Dollars until Cameron broke his own record with Avatar (2009). Titanic was re-released in 2012 in 3D for the centennial of the sinking and now looks if possible even better; it has since surpassed the $2 Billion mark, my personal rating is a 10/10. It’s a long movie at 3 Hours 6 minutes, it’s a pull on the heart stings but well worth it, go on give it a chance!