Titanic

I am probably one of the only people that completely missed all the hype surrounding Titanic until I had actually seen the movie. I have heard many people say that they will not watch it because of it. I say to those who give this as a reason - you are missing out on an amazing cinematic experience. Yes, you have your token "doomed love story", but by no means is this just a token disaster movie.

The film opens up with modern day treasure hunter Brock Lovett, searching for a legendary diamond "The Heart of the Ocean". Which is, by the way, entirely fictitious. Instead of the necklace, they find a drawing of a woman wearing this famed jewel, dated April 14, 1912 - the night of the disaster. After the picture is shown on the news, an old woman, claiming to have been "Rose DeWitt Bukater", a woman who supposedly perished in the tragedy, contacts Lovett, telling him that she is the woman seen in the drawing. She opens the door to the past, allowing this fabulous love story, and tragic tale to be told. The romantic leads were perfectly cast, and have a remarkable chemistry between them. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the struggling, but happy-go-lucky artist who charms Rose (Kate Winslet) first out of commiting suicide, then out of her restrictive Edwardian lifestyle; teaching her to "take life as it comes at ya".

By giving us these two characters, whom we fall in love with while they themselves fall in love, James Cameron has put us in a position to really feel the loss that occured that night. Instead of just nameless victims of a tragic disaster - we can actually identify with them. Cameron has kept close to historical truths, with only minor controversial events depicted. This movie paints an accurate picture of what life would have been like on the luxury liner, both before and during the sinking.

With such passengers as John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Molly Brown, Thomas Andrews, Bruce Ismay, and of course, Captain E.J. Smith, we are introduced to the many influential people who were either tragically killed, or miraculously escaped in the disaster. The rich and famous are not the only ones whose plights are depicted. The lives and deaths of the third class passengers (or steerage) passengers are also shown in detail. From the lively parties they would have held below decks, to an Irish mother telling her children a story as the ship sinks around them. One fault I have always noticed with most Titanic films is that everyone is depicted as behaving within the bounds of decency. Not so in this one. We are shown the brutal force used to hold back the steerage passengers, thereby resulting in a remarkably high death toll, as compared to those in first class. First Class "Gentlemen" are shown bribing officers, or just getting into lifeboats of their own accord. Real panic is shown and felt through the images and music. There are no shots of men valiantly singing at the rails as the ship slowly sinks into the North Atlantic. The sea of bodies shown after the ship took its plunge is positively chilling. Suddenly, the fact that 1500 people died in this tragedy seems very real. Cameron has even included a daring shot of an infant in the water.

This story, so beautifully told by Cameron hits you where no other Titanic movie has - the heart.

Carrie Riches