Throwback Thursday Movie: TITANIC (1997)

I am flying marthafied

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so what a better Throwback Thursday movie than the epic love story Titanic - the $ 200 million James Cameron pre-Avatar movie which was expected to sink like the unsinkable ship of dreams. But instead it has been quoted as the most popular motion picture of all time. Titanic was and still remains so popular that in 2012 Cameron made digitally remastered and 3D versions of his original movie.

I have seen Titanic several times and each time I start watching it again I feel quite blasé about it. It’s a movie I like, but not a movie I love. Then something always happens which changes that. When the images of the Titanic in all its glory start flowing onto the screen, the very young Leonardo di Caprio running to get onto the ship of dreams and the ever-so-beautiful Kate Winslet being mentally suffocated by her family. Every time – without any doubt – I get sucked into the story over and over again.

Titanic is almost like two movies is one. One is about the unthinkable tragedy which saw more than 1,500 of the ships 2,200 passengers die, because the Titanic was thought to be indestructible. In the words of the ship’s builder Thomas Andrews (played by Victor Garber): ‘She [Titanic] is made of iron, Sir – I assure you she can [sink] and she will.’ James Cameron’s view on what when wrong with the Titanic’s fateful journey: ‘The lesson of Titanic is, just don’t go so fast when you’re dealing with that much of power and energy. Give yourself time to turn, because that’s all they did wrong.’

The other side of Titanic is an epic love story between a girl who has everything except her freedom and a boy who has nothing except his freedom. The love story unfolds smoothly even though at times it’s overpowered by the story of Titanic sinking, which is probably why the screenplay was one of the few categories in which the movie was not nominated for an Oscar way back when.

Funnily when you really think about the screenplay, it is nothing new. Love story between two people who are separated by social class – has not that same story been told millions of times? But what makes this movie special is that everything works. The chemistry between the characters has been fine-tuned to perfection. Kate Winslet as Rose and Leonardo Di Caprio as Jack are perfect casting.

James Cameron is like an all-in-one moviemaking machine – he wrote and directed Titanic. He even drew all the sketches used in the movie as Jack’s drawings, including the most famous one of naked Rose wearing the Heart of the Ocean. Damn, if he could act he would have probably acted in it as well. But if you remember his acceptance speech at the Oscars in 1998, where Titanic scooped 11 golden statues, you can be sure it is a good idea for him not to act. ‘I am the King of the World’ just did not have the same punch as said by Leonardo Di Caprio in the movie.

But Cameron sure made one cinematic masterpiece and proved all the doubtful people wrong. The recreation of the sinking of the Titanic is stunning. It makes chilling watching each time. I also found fascinating that footage of the actual Titanic is used in the film. Even though much of the underwater footage was filmed on set with miniature models and special effects. Inarguably the most visually stunning special effect scenes of the movie are the ones when the ship breaks into two just before it plunges to the bottom of Atlantic. In the words of the unsinkable Molly Brown (played by Kathy Bates): ‘Now there is something you don’t see everyday.’

The level of detailing throughout the movie is mind-blowing. The sets representing the interior rooms of Titanic were reproduced exactly as originally built, using photographs and plans from the original builders who are still in business. Titanic must have really been something else.