Amazing true life tragedy which is one hell of a film (Titanic [1998] (DVD))

Member Name: emmajt81

Product:	Titanic [1998] (DVD)
Date:	25/08/09 (19 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: DiCaprio and Winslet are amazing together

Disadvantages: Long at 3 hours but it whizzes by

Titanic is a film I've seen so many times I pretty much know the whole script off by heart. The biggest ever grossing film at the box office tag should give you some idea of the enormous impact this film has back in 1997. A film that a lot of people went to see a good 3 or 4 times at the cinema (at least everyone I know did when they were at school). And the film that catapulted Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet into the mainstream.

The story is told as a tale from an old Rose in the current day, as she visits the boat that is heading up the expedition to recover items from the Titanic at the bottom of the North Atlantic. As she looks back to her youth we see that Rose (Winslet) was a rich English girl who is engaged to be married to rich and handsome Cal (Billy Zane) who for want of a better word is a bit of an arse. Rose, Cal and her mother are all boarding the Titanic for its maiden voyage and despite the excitement Rose is somewhat bored and disheartened with her life in general. Meanwhile a young American called Jack (DiCaprio) is playing cards in a bar to win tickets to be on board Titanic. Jack is poor and needs a new adventure and before long he and his friend have won the game of poker and are racing to board the ship before she leaves the dock.

So bored is Rose with her life that one evening she decides she's going to throw herself off the back of the ship. Jack however saves her and thus starts the romance of all romances. Jack has the passion and the zest for life that Rose has been longing for in her life and it isn't long before the two of them are planning a life together. But then of course - tragedy strikes - Titanic hits an iceberg and it's a race against time to get off the ship.

Kate Winslet is a brilliant actress and she captures Rose perfectly. Whilst on the outside Rose is prim and proper and how a lady of her class and wealth should act, on the inside Rose is screaming to get out, ditch the tight corsets and let her hair down and have some fun. Kate flits between the two personas well and you really feel for Rose's situation - her family has run out of money and Rose needs to marry Cal so she and her family can be rich again. Her mother's happiness is on her shoulders but Rose wants to do something for herself for once. So when she meets Jack, she breathes a sigh of relief and becomes the Rose she wants to be and not the Rose she's been told she should be.

Leonardo DiCaprio is also one of the best actors of his generation - proven by his vast work after Titanic. Jack is a charmer, a jack-the-lad if you will and someone who doesn't define his life with money. He's not afraid to stand up for himself, and that's something that Rose longs to do herself. Leo is the persona of Hollywood heartthrob and he's the poor guy who scrubs up well here. His acting is beyond brilliant, and the chemistry between him and Kate is something else. Believable and compelling Kate and Leo make this love story into one of the best ever told.

There are some great supporting roles too - Billy Zane plays Cal with menace and conviction - he's a character you really hate and one who you actually hope doesn't make it off the ship at the end! Zane is good at playing the bad guy and here he is loathsome and repugnant. Kathy Bates as real life passenger Molly Brown gives a feisty character even more oomph. She's got money but 'new money' as Rose's mother puts it. In other words, Molly has a heart of gold and no airs or graces. The line in the lifeboat where she convinces a crewman to go back and search the waters is actually what happened in real life. She probably saved the lives of many that night.

Titanic is a marvel of a film in so many ways. There have been many adaptations of Titanic but none that have captured the tragedy of that night in such a way as this. The CGI effects are stunning in this film and believe it or not the ship you see in the film was actually built for real. Only one side of it mind, when they wanted to show the other side of the ship they simply flipped the film around afterwards to show the reverse. Clever but simple. Every item on the ship has attention to detail and quite historically accurate, from the cutlery to the costumes which are beautiful and really capture the early 1910s well. The score brings out the drama and suspense of the tragedy even more than the characters do, highlighting the different emotions the characters are going through. As well as this, the story highlights the flaws that Titanic had - one example is that the ship was deemed to be unsinkable and therefore wasn't fitted with enough lifeboats - it was thought the deck would look cluttered and it was pointless having them on an unsinkable ship. Something that in today's world of health and safety overload we would never dream of doing!

Whilst the romance is the main storyline here, the actual tragedy of the sinking is detailed and upsetting at times when you think this is what really happened to people. The true life events of the band playing on deck right up to the point where Titanic fell under the sea and couples clinging together for life in their beds as water rushed in under their cabin door are sad and poignant and the direction here is very well done indeed. Because the story of Jack and Rose is interspersed with scenes of the current day Rose telling her story you can really feel the emotion as she thinks back to that night. The expedition they are on shows film clips of the wreck at the bottom of the sea, real footage I might add, which again really brings the film home to you.

James Cameron has brilliantly captured the historic tragedy of these events in this film, as well as the fictional story of Jack and Rose. Whilst their story may not be true, many people on board that ship lost their loved ones and so the emotion from that story IS true. The romance doesn't suffice to say have the clichéd happy ending and whilst this isn't the ending you want, it's the ending it needs to have, because it's the ending that so many people really did have on that ship that night.

A true story, a devastating one at that and one which is told with depth and meaning. This film is 12 years old now but shows no signs of aging. The sets and costumes still look astonishing to this day and the story is one which pulls you in right til the end despite its 3 hour running time (yes 3 hours!). The winner of 11 Oscars and deservedly so, Titanic is a brilliant film, one which will capture your hearts and have you laughing and crying. Complete must see.

Summary: Unmissable