TITANIC

SYNOPSIS:
Epic, action-packed romance set against the ill-fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. As robotic diving vessels search the sunken Titanic, they discover a drawing in a vault that shows a young woman, naked, wearing a huge diamond, which is the object of the salvage. An old woman watching the news recognises the drawing . . . Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is a young upper class American, soon to be officially engaged to the equally upper class Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Rose is travelling in the sumptuous luxury of Titanic’s upper decks with her insular, narrow minded mother Ruth (Frances Fisher). Not long out of Southampton, Rose has a crisis of the spirit, seeing her life closeted, cloistered, devoid of real meaning, in the grip of a dull and superficial society. She is saved from a desperate act by a free-spirited young steerage passenger, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is immediately drawn to this attractive and troubled young woman. The central story of the film, Rose and Jack’s forbidden love, begins a powerful mystery that echoes across the years into the present. But on that April day in 1912, the Titanic is doomed, and the young lovers are caught in the terrifying panic that slowly grips the desperate passengers and crew as the icy waters of the North Atlantic swirl across the decks. And the giant jewel is still mysteriously missing.

"You will walk out of Titanic not talking about its blown-out budget or its lengthy running time, but of its enormous emotive power, as big as the engines of the ship itself, as determined as its giant propellers to gouge into your heart, and as lasting as the love story that propels it. You may think of it at first as a good old disaster movie, but there is no terrorist threatening with bombs, nor a natural disaster to wreak havoc. The baddie here is our own arrogance, shortsightedness and frailty. James Cameron has written a warm and turbulent romance that is flung into the calm but icy seas of the North Atlantic. Our pre-existing knowledge that Titanic sank creates a special context from the opening shots (and what shots they are!), a knowledge that plays an important part in the film. And Cameron has accurately calculated that factor into his film: he has constructed Titanic masterfully. It is dramatically well balanced so that our anticipations are held in check with surprises and an engaging story, while he fastidiously builds up the environment. This is how the film delivers its punch; we don’t just SEE the setting and the people, we can feel the environment, we can feel how the various passengers feel, we can feel the whole damn drama and the poetic, lyrical love story. This is emotive cinema, a film that carries you (unless you are a die hard cynic with a heart that’s switched off) and involves you. It showers you with detail and shows you awesomely realistic tragedy. I have to take issue with Richard Corliss (below) who is too dismissive when he says: "On this vast canvas, the problems of these three little people really don't amount to a hill of beans." I think that’s exactly the point, Dick. However big the canvas or the tragedy, it always comes down to the little human beings, the tiny figures that tumble and slide down the deck of a giant, upended ship, that shriek with horror, pain and panic to make us FEEL the enormity of the tragedy. McCarthy (below) need not worry about too many Americans – that’s how it was on that voyage (according to our Titanic buff). He does make a good point, though, talking about the stock characterisations of the upper deck crowd, even if this is a tad like rearranging the deckchairs …. in the overall effect it has on the enjoyment of the movie. He’s also right about the extraordinary Gloria Stuart, who burns into our memory. The spectacular recreation of RMS Titanic and the successful coupling of all the human elements that make up his story – eternal love, class, honour, greed, tragedy, nostalgia - are overwhelmingly captured in cinematic terms, with fabulous performances (DiCaprio is outstanding in an outstanding cast) and from cinematography to design and music, to give audiences a satisfying and never to be forgotten experience. Don’t hesitate to buy a ticket on the Titanic this time. It won’t let you down."
Andrew L. Urban