If this incredible films winning of eleven Academy awards including Best Picture and Best director and being the highest grossing film of all time doesn’t speak for itself I don’t know what else would. “Titanic” is quite simply one of the best tales of a true life tragedy interspersed with a fictional love story ever made, all of which combines to make director James Cameron appear a true genius which in terms of being a film director he is.
I will freely admit that I’m not a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan but when it comes to this film he did an exceptional job in the role of Jack. Instrumental in the success of this film, beyond the exceptional script, is the performance given by the ever beautiful Kate Winslet in the role of Rose. Noteworthy are the performances given by the supporting cast to include the likes of David Warner, Kathy Bates and Billy Zane and of course a couple of James Cameron’s staple actors who crop up in almost all of his films in Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein.
As testimony to the brilliance of director James Cameron one only needs to take a look at his list of directorial and script credits which includes; “The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” “T2: Judgment Day,” “True Lies” and “Titanic.” With a list such as this one James Cameron has most certainly gone down in history as one of the most successful directors/screen writers in history and deservedly so. It would be nice to see him take a break from television and take up the film directing mantle once again as one can almost call it a sure bet film when he’s in the director’s chair.
The Premise:
On April 14th, 1912 one of western civilization’s most tragic events occurred when a ship thought to be unsinkable did exactly that, struck an iceberg and sank killing hundreds of passengers in the process as the ships builders seemed to have made one mistake after another in the construction of this “magnificent” vessel.
Director/screen writer James Cameron concocts a glorious love story around this true life tragedy and quite poignantly portrays the disparity of classes aboard the vessel as the first class passengers live in the lap of luxury even during the “abandonment” of the vessel while the poor are treated with palpable disdain to include being locked below decks after the ship begins to sink.
While the true story of this movie is the sinking of the ship told through Cameron’s brilliant writing and direction there is whole myriad of other things going on that are not noticeable but would’ve been had they been done incorrectly, chief among these are the costumes and the sets of the Titanic.
The truly fictitious portion of this tragedy is told through Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) as she regales present day treasure hunters of her time on the Titanic and the gloriously passionate but brief love affair between her and Jack Dawson who was a free spirited artist who taught her how to live despite his destiny…
I highly recommend this film to any and all who are fans of what movie making is all about!